Bathwater
by The Wonderful Nobody
Summary: Quistis is determined to obtain Seifer's love and will put up with anything he throws her way. But as the three sorceresses and Squall Leonhart are kidnapped, Quistis and Seifer have to join forces and fight an evil bigger than Ultimecia herself!
1. Would You?

**Bathwater**

_Prologue: Would You…?_

Would you love someone who would rather poke his own eyes out than look at you? Would you love someone who would rather eat dirt than talk to you? Would you love someone who would rather cut off his own limbs than touch you?

**I would.** I fell in love with the most arrogant, the most conceited, the rudest man alive. And to me it was the greatest thing I've ever experienced. It had its ups and definitely had its downs but I think I came out stronger in the end.

As for Seifer… Heh heh… I think he'll think twice before hurting someone's feelings ever again?


	2. Sorry Instructor

_Chapter One: Sorry, Instructor!_

Quistis sighed and leaned back. Although the uneven wooden slats of the bench in the Quad were uncomfortable, she found the unfamiliar feel of the weathered wood a welcome change to the high-backed seat of her classroom chair. Today was the first day of the Spring Vacation and it was a vacation that was well received, not only by the instructor but also by all of Garden.

The demise of Ultimecia had been proven to not be the end but only the beginning of the challenges that the world was faced with. Damages had to be repaired and the SeeD went into overtime. SeeD were dispatched to all areas of the world to rebuild, fight off monster infestations, find missing persons, or to subdue panicked crowds. Those who had not yet become SeeD found that their jobs weren't much easier. The Garden itself had suffered plenty of damages to the system that needed to be fixed as well.

Students faced a new, stricter regiment. Dress codes were applied, applications were stricter and allowed fewer people to become students at Balamb. Classroom instruction focused more on bookwork and intelligence, as well as morals and values. A new testing system was developed so that only after a student passed several levels of classroom instruction, a test distinguished if the student was applicable to become a field SeeD. If the student passed, they were given a weapon and given battle lessons.

Instructors too felt the sting of the new established rules. Quistis was surprised that she had even passed the test to become an instructor, since restrictions were raised greatly and several skills were mandatory. She just assumed that since she had taken part in saving the world, they figured that she obviously knew a thing or two about battle. Instructors were forced to work tenfold what they worked before. Spring Vacation was a greatly anticipated event. The students, staff, and SeeD could put aside work and worries and relax for once. Selphie had even managed to reestablish the Festival Committee and had actually gotten more than enough volunteers.

She sighed and closed her eyes, pulling more than enough oxygen into her lungs before releasing it slowly. She had been on the verge of a breakdown and was still feeling the pressures of work. (This is ridiculous… Squall, are you trying to kill me?) She sighed again. Squall was something she didn't want to think about one bit while on vacation.

Quistis had almost drifted to sleep, the light spring breeze pulling tendrils of her hair from her loose bun and lightly grazing her face, when shouts pulled her alert. She was startled at first, reaching instinctively for her whip, which wasn't there. She leapt to her feet and stepped out from beneath the shade and shelter of the old willow tree that spread over the bench where she had been sitting.

A large mass of people was moving from the Garden building into the Quad. There were shouts of anger, shouts of joy, even cheers and boos. She peered into the crowd. _Is it Squall? Or maybe Rinoa? No… Neither of them would get boos or shouts… That's for sure…_ She bit her lip and stepped to the edge of the mass, and tried to force her way through to the middle but stopped when she caught a glimpse of… white trench coat… black pants… blonde hair… poisonous green eyes…

"Seifer!" She nearly shouted, but instead the word clung to the back of her throat and a small gasp was all that she managed. How was he back! Once again her hands instinctively reached for the weapon that still wasn't there. She suddenly felt naked and vulnerable. A violent shove from the side sent her from the edge of the crowd to the ground. She cried out, drawing unwanted attention to herself.

"Instructor." The familiar, arrogant voice of Seifer spoke the word with a tinge of bitterness. She and Seifer hadn't gotten along before the Sorceress War… What could be expected afterwards? She looked up, shielding the sun from her eyes. He extended a hand but she slapped it away. "So that's the welcome I get from an old buddy?" A smirk was plastered on his face.

She glared at him and climbed to her feet, ignoring the stinging pain in her knees and palms. She swatted away the dust, straightened her skirt, smoothed her shirt and patted back the loose hair before focusing her attention on him. "If you should receive anything from me, Seifer, you can expect it to be the farthest thing from a welcome." Quistis hissed low so that only they could hear. She had noticed that the crowd that had gathered around Seifer now watched in hush silence.

She pushed past him and through the crowds, ignoring his invitation to come to lunch with him and reminisce on how weak she was before and how he could still easily crush her. His harsh laughter followed her well into the corridor of the school.

xxx

Quistis sat fuming, in the Quad, breathing deeply to keep from screaming. After realizing Seifer's return, she had headed directly to Cid to complain.

"Sir, I don't know if you recall, but he tried to kill Squall, myself and the others. He launched an attack on Garden, _which you have now let him back into_, and he aided the sorceress in gaining power and control! This man belongs in prison!" She said, her tone stern and brushing the line between talking and shouting. Her knuckles were white from her hands gripping the edge of the Cid's desk.

But her complaint went nowhere, did nothing. Cid claimed to have good reasons for allowing Seifer to return and that those reasons were to remain between the aforementioned man and himself. Quistis had stalked from the room, like a little girl who was refused what she wanted. It had been three days ago that she had met with her longstanding enemy, Seifer Almasy.

And now, she realized she was once again in his vicinity. From where she sat in the shade and shelter of the willow tree, she could see Seifer as well as his new entourage. After the Sorceress War, Raijin and Fujin left Balamb to help rebuild other towns and that left Seifer's posse down to one: Seifer.

It didn't take Seifer long to fill those positions left vacant by Raijin and Fujin; a smooth-talker by the name of Zephyr had quickly become Seifer's right hand man and had become Seifer's shadow. Fujin's replacement had been a seedy young woman with not the cleanest background who was called Tali. But Zephyr and Tali resembled Seifer in many ways; they were as eager and willing to disrupt the school as Seifer was.

Quistis watched as Seifer and Zephyr plotted something while Tali carved her name into the side of a tree by which they sat. They spoke in hushed tones and it was clear that Tali were to be the victim. Seifer stood up and casually walked up to the unsuspecting girl, and looked over her shoulder at her progress. Something was said and she laughed. Quistis watched as his hand slipped down behind the girl. What was he doing…? Before Quistis could figure it out, a ball of fire appeared in Seifer's hand and he moved forward slowly. He was going to light fire to her skirt!

Quistis leapt to her feet. Although she might not have liked Tali, she could find satisfaction in foiling Seifer's plans, however small and stupid they might have been. She quickly calculated; she couldn't get over there in time so she scrolled through her magick. A Watera magick was the first thing she came to and she didn't have time to find a weaker magick so she cast the spell.

A blue sphere the size of a small cow shot in their direction and hit Seifer and Tali hard in the back. Tali was thrown forward slightly, only receiving some of the force and clung to the tree. Seifer, however, got the full brunt of it and fell forward into the bushes. Zephyr leapt out of the way and struggled to keep from laughing as Seifer attempted to untangle himself from the bushes with difficulty. Tali slapped pathetically at the back of her skirt and shirt, attempting to wring the water from them.

Seifer finally climbed back to his feet, his hand curled around the small knife that Tali had been using to carve her name into the tree. He looked around, swinging his head fiercely from side to side, searching for whoever dared attack him. His poisonous green eyes locked on the instructor who stood directly in front of him across the Quad. His eyes traveled from her face to the extended arm and the palm that was directed toward him before striding over to her, the knife clutched tightly in his right hand. He carried it like it was his Hyperion, his treasured gunblade.

Quistis's hand slipped behind her to the small of her back. Her hand grasped for the whip and clung tightly to the handle of the whip. But she didn't pull the weapon out that she had started carrying with her everywhere since Seifer's return. He stopped an inch in front of her, his chest heaving with anger.

"Instructor." He said between clenched teeth. She could read the fury in his eyes and knew that it was taking everything he had to keep himself from burying that knife deep in her chest. Quistis's breath caught her throat but she forced the air through. She would not allow herself to be afraid of this man. She knew from the way that he had allowed Ultimecia to control him that he was in fact a very afraid little boy trapped in a man's body… But he was a little boy that could be capable of murdering her right now. She trembled noticeably as he once again repeated, "Instructor."

She forced herself to look him deep in the eyes. "Seifer." She could play the little name game too! Her palm grew sweaty on the whip. She realized that it was useless with Seifer standing at such close range. She would never be able to get a good hit like this. She reluctantly let the grip on her weapon go and let her hand fall to her side. "I couldn't let you burn Tali's skirt." In the corner of her eye, she could see Tali and Zephyr behind Seifer, still standing where they had been hit with the Watera magick.

Seifer stepped forward, forcing her back towards the bench. She nearly tripped and her hands grabbed onto the front of his trench coat to keep from falling. With the fact that people could be watching in mind, Seifer grabbed onto one of her wrists with the same hand that held the blade. With the blade resting against her wrist, he could hide the blade from view. Quistis bit her lip as she felt the cold steel biting lightly at her skin. He leaned forward. "I wouldn't move if I were you."

"Damn you, Seifer." She snarled back. "Why the hell did you even come back? What's the friggin' point in that if you're just going to continue being the same jerk as before!" Quistis snapped angrily, well aware that while she spoke he had pressed the blade tighter against her flesh. A strange sensation at her wrist, like water sliding off to the side and falling, let her know that blood had been drawn from her wrist.

"What's it to you, Instructor?" He said calmly, like they were casually talking about the weather or the dirt. He let go of her wrist and slipped the knife into his pocket. Threats came easy to Seifer Almasy. She climbed back to her feet, shoving Seifer back.

"I just want to know why you're here to waste my time!" She yelled.

He sneered at her. Without realizing what she was doing, Quistis raised her hand and smacked the arrogant young man hard on the side of his face. When she withdrew her hand, a large red mark was left on his cheekbone. He put his hand to his cheek, and stared at her in disbelief. "That's for threatening me, Seifer. I'm not afraid of you." She muttered in the same 'dirt' conversational tone. He shook his head, a smirk coming to his face.

"Well, dear Quisty, let that be the reason I came back." He reached up and ran his fingers through the loose strands of her blonde hair. He sneered at her again. "I came back just for you." He gave her hair a nearly painful tug and turned and walked away. Quistis knew that he was serious in what he said. While it may not have been the original reason he returned to Balamb, he would make her life a living hell because she had confronted him. And because he said so.

Quistis sat back down on the bench and followed them with her blue eyes. She shook her head, realizing that it had been well over a decade ago that they left the orphanage and neither of them had ever really grew up.

xxx

Quistis sighed inaudibly as the tall, blonde student ambled into the classroom. He was followed by his entourage and they were all laughing and shoving students out of the way as they vied for the seats at the very back of the classroom. Their leader, the rambunctious Seifer, stretched back and rested his muddy boots on the com center. He winked at her. He then turned to his right hand man, Zephyr, and began to talk to him. She knew that he was talking about her because he kept glancing at her and laughing. Zephyr collapsed into a fit of laughter, clutching his side as he laughed hysterically. That meant trouble…

She shook her head, glaring at him. Quistis, who had returned to her position as instructor after Ultimecia's defeat, would most definitely have another talk with the Headmaster about Seifer being allowed to return to Balamb. Since his return, he had been nearly ten times worse than before the war. That and she couldn't see the point in training a traitor to become a soldier. What if he betrayed them all again? Then she would be responsible for his skills! She shook her head, then stood as the door closed after the last student and the bell signaled the start of class.

"Okay class, today we will be studying Anacondaurs and the potency of their venom." Quistis passed out booklets to all the students. As she reached the back row, she slowed, trying to be aware of any tricks that may be up Seifer's sleeve. "Seifer, would you please get your feet off of the desk? That or you can stay after today and scrub all of the desks." With a death glare shot in her direction, he lowered his feet. But he made sure to stomp his feet on the floor and kick as much as he could reach. She grimaced as mud was flung everywhere, even on the hem of her SeeD uniform skirt. "Thank you." She muttered through her teeth. She tossed his handbook of monsters at him and he caught it expertly.

"Thank you, Instructor." He replied, grinning sweetly. Something was definitely up.

She continued past the back row to put the remaining handbooks on the back table. She felt a boot step on her own. Quistis tried to keep her balance but she was already mid-step. So she found herself face down on the floor, the books scattered across the back of the classroom.

"Sorry, Instructor!" Seifer exclaimed with false sincerity. Behind him the class covered their mouths to keep from letting their giggles and snickers escape. The only ones not laughing were the Trepies, who were glaring at Seifer with the utmost rage. The leader of the Trepies, Seth, rushed to Quistis's aid. He gathered up the books, set them on the table and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright, Instructor?" He asked, holding her hand tightly as she wiped the muck from her boots and legs. His brown eyes were filled with concern.

"Yes, Seth, thank you." She pulled her hand from his grasp. "Seifer, you will remain after class so that I can fill out a form for the Disciplinary Committee." Her voice was grave. She had had it up to here with him and his tricks…

Seifer laughed. "But Instructor, I am the Disciplinary Committee!" He and his entourage collapsed into laughter.

"Not for much longer, I believe."

"Is that a threat?" He challenged, the smile gone from his face.

"If that's what you choose to think." Was her cryptic reply. Seifer glared at her.

After Seth had returned to his seat and Quistis to her desk, she ordered them to read pages twenty-one through thirty-three. The class was in silence. Well, almost…

"I can't believe they rehired her." Zephyr whispered loudly.

"Yeah, you should have seen her try to fight me when I broke out of detention. She's so weak!" Seifer replied, not even bothering to whisper. "That and she's a big crybaby. She's always whining about Squall…'Oh Squall, why don't you love me?' She's been that way since she was six!" They erupted into laughter again.

Quistis was close to losing it. "Seifer! Zephyr! One more time and you will report to the Headmaster's office!" She shouted it. And she could hardly believe that they remained behaved for the rest of the class. Well, almost…

"Anacondaur poison can be quite lethal if used correctly. It cannot harm a human being unless it is injected directly into the bloodstream, such as through a bite from the Anacondaur itself. It can also be harmful if ingested. The person injected or ingested with the venom can live up to twenty-four hours before it becomes fatal. There is a cure, however. The Anacondaur itself is the carrier of the cure. Right behind the sacs of venom in the jaws of the monster is a pouch of silver fluid, called by most the Anacondaur's Gift. When removed from the pouch and ingested from the victim, it can neutralize the poison." She came from behind her desk and disappeared into the supply closet. When she returned, she had a tray of vials containing the poison.

"Everybody grab a vial of poison and a potted plant form the table at the back of the class. We will put the roots of the plant in the vial, calculate how long it takes for the plant to wilt, then revive it with the Gift, which is in those bottles over there." She motioned to another table.

She tried to keep her eye on Seifer and Zephyr but she soon had to look away to help a student who had accidentally dropped her potted plant. When she turned back around, Seifer and his vial of poison collided directly with her front. The small fragile bottle exploded and the poison covered the front of Quistis's clothes.

"I'm so sorry, Instructor." He said, smirking as her clothes began to dissolve away. She squealed and could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks as she was soon left standing in front of the entire class in nothing but her black panties and matching bra. Seth, once again, leapt to her rescue. He took off his shirt, causing the girls of the class to sigh at the muscles that had lain beneath his uniform. He offered Quistis the shirt and she quickly put it on.

Seifer and his entourage were laughing their heads off. Seth, outraged at the actions cast upon his idol, rushed towards Seifer, a ball of Thundara magick in his hand. "Why I outta kill your treacherous ass!" He growled. Seifer and his entourage stopped laughing and he stood up straight.

"Think you can beat me, teacher's pet? I match, no exceed, your great Leonhart's abilities. Can you beat that?" Seifer flicked out the pocketknife, his green eyes flashing. The bell sounded and everyone left the classroom except for the Trepies and Seifer's entourage. They watched as Seth and Seifer lunged at each other.

"Stop!" Seth and Seifer froze in mid-dive as Quistis cast Stop magick on the pair of them. "You, take your friend Seth and go." The Trepies nodded and picked up their frozen friend. "The magick will wear off soon. When it does, tell Seth that I would like to see him in my office." They left the classroom.

"As for you…" She said, turning to the stiff Seifer and his entourage. "Get out of my classroom before I have you thrown from Garden. Seifer… I will see him soon to discuss his punishment." After speaking those last words, she vanished from the classroom, in a hurry to get to her room and get dressed.

Back in the classroom, the magick wore off, and Seifer dove painfully into the

floor.

xxx

A knock on her door made Quistis realize that the Trepies had actually passed on her message to Seth after the Stop magick had worn off. She set down her pen, took off her glasses and rubbed her dry eyes before standing and calling Seth into her office. He pushed the door open slightly, and peered into the room before actually stepping into the room. A smile brightened his face as he approached her desk and took the seat offered to him.

Seth was a handsome young man; even though he wasn't on the same list as Seifer and Squall, he was still well liked by many and had a good following. With silver eyes that always expressed joy and dark brown hair shorn shorter than Squall's but a little longer than Seifer's, Seth was well received by quite a few girls in Balamb Garden. But as far as Quistis knew, he turned them all down, choosing instead to study precariously and pursue Quistis. Since his area of study was magick, not weaponry, his body was much leaner and sleeker than the other guys but his small frame added to the list of reasons for girls to seek him out.

Quistis wasted no time in handing the young man the slip of yellow paper after hurriedly scrawling her name at the bottom. "I'm sorry, Seth, but I'm going to have to issue you a detention. Although it was for a very good reason, fighting in the classroom is strictly prohibited." She extended the paper and pen to him. But instead of accepting it, he merely stood, pushing his chair back, and stepped away from the desk. "Seth?" She questioned.

"I'm sorry, Instructor, but I can't accept that." He said gravely. His silver eyes were trained hard on something behind her although she knew nothing was behind her but a black wall. She wasn't much of a decorator. Was he actually defying her?

"Seth?" She murmured, unsure of what to do.

"I won't accept it. I was fully right in trying to attack Seifer. He is a threat to the school." He leaned forward, took the pen and paper from her hand and dropped them both in the waste bin. He stared at it for a minute before fishing out the pen and placing it back on Quistis's desk. For once, he trained his eyes on hers. "He is a threat to you, Quistis, and I will not let him harm you…"

Two different counterattacks came to her mind. One of, which involved her deliberating with Seth that although she was flattered, he was a student and she was an instructor and nothing more, could come of what he was indirectly supposing. The second… Well, the second counterattack, she took on strongly.

"Seifer Almasy will not harm me! I am in control of that wretch and as far as I'm concerned," She paused, evened her tone, and started again. "Seifer Almasy will not be able to harm me. Not only is it illegal for him to lay a finger on me, but he is on a sort of probation and any real threats will be thoroughly punished. Thank you, Seth, for your concern, but it would be in your best interests to stay out of the situation." Quistis sighed, hoping that Seth would leave it at that. But of course, he didn't.

"Quistis, I understand what you're saying, but – " She cut him off.

"It's 'Instructor' or 'Instructor Trepe'." She informed him, as part of protocol, not because she really cared what he called her.

"I understand what you're trying to tell me but either way, I won't let it happen." He turned and walked away. When he got to the door, he turned back to her. "And if I were you, I wouldn't let him push me around like that, whether you take care of yourself or let me take care of him." And with that, he slipped back out the door and was gone.

Quistis rested her head on the desk, sighing again. Seth… Seifer… She spent the rest of her time in her office quietly contemplating everything and anything. Things as early as the orphanage came to mind, and things as late as the conversation with Seth. And not too long after nightfall, she decided on a course of action.

xxx

Quistis sought out Seifer that night, after finally deciding there was truth in what Seth had said. Why should she let Seifer torture her so much? She had stopped him before. But then again, that was when she had the others fighting beside her.

But as Quistis slipped her whip into the back pocket of her clothes, she was sure that she could handle Seifer. Fighting Ultimecia had given her experience beyond imagining and she had kept up a daily regiment of training the newer, tougher monsters brought to the Training Center, which was her destination at the moment. And Seifer would probably be worse off. He had spent several months hiding, fleeing from place to place, and always staying one step ahead of SeeD before Cid had made his decision. Surely that kind of stress wouldn't allow Seifer to focus on staying strong. And after he returned to Garden, he was too busy ruining everything for her and others. So he couldn't be that strong, could he?

Quistis watched nearly in awe as Seifer struggled with the T-Rexaur. The man had suffered quite a few blows from the monster, some pretty bad, whereas the T-Rexaur was unscathed. But the longer she watched, she realized that Seifer had purposefully left himself unguarded. (_He's training himself to take the pain!_) She continued to watch his brutal training until he finally slew the beast with ease. Quistis reached for her whip, a bit worried. Even though the fight had taken a lot out of Seifer, could whatever was left still be enough to beat her?

Seifer smirked when he turned and saw Quistis standing twenty feet away. He knew that her hand was behind her back because she was holding on tightly to her whip, to comfort herself. He threw his Hyperion back towards the remains of the T-Rexaur and strode over to her, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Come to try and train with me?" He sneered.

She wasted no time in retrieving her whip from her pocket and swinging it in a full arc. Its trail ended with a loud snap on Seifer's bare back. He lurched forward slightly, mainly from the momentum and then grabbed the end of the whip and began to step forward. As he stepped closer to her, he wound the whip around his knuckles. No matter how she tried, she couldn't break his hold on it.

He wrenched it from her hand and threw it behind them. She brought her fist into his jaw and heard a sickening crunch. He spat out some blood and a fragment of his tooth. He shook his head before grabbing her arm and spinning her around, pinning her arm behind her back painfully. His other arm slipped around her throat, uncomfortably tight. "It'd be wise for you to stop playing these little games, Quisty." She snarled at him.

"Right after you, Seifer. I'm sick of it!" She bit deep into his flesh and he shoved her forward, his hand instantly clinging to his bitten arm. She hadn't bitten hard enough to draw blood but enough to disturb the muscle. He glared at her before walking over to where the whip laid. He whipped it once, as if testing it out, before flailing it in her direction. It snapped on her forearm, in the same general area where she had bitten him.

"I don't normally hit girls." He said, after hearing her cry out in pain. He tossed the whip and it landed on her feet. "But I do believe in the old law: an eye for an eye." He laughed, picked up his Hyperion and began to walk away.

"Wait." Quistis shouted, running past her whip. As Seifer turned to look back, her other fist met the other cheek. His head swung back around and he nearly stumbled, dropping his gunblade to try and keep himself from falling. She swung her leg out, her calf connecting with his shins and knocking him to the ground. His chin hit the dirt painfully. She pulled her foot back to kick him in the ribs but he grabbed her foot and yanked it, pulling her down to the ground beside him.

She cried out once as she hit the ground hard on her back. Seifer struggled to grab her arms. She kicked at his chest, trying to get him away from her. She kicked him hard enough and she sat on top of him, trying to pin his hands over his head. He rolled his body and she fell over again. He climbed to his feet, panting for breath. She glared at him from the ground. When she tried to climb to her feet, Seifer pinned her to the ground with a foot on her stomach. She struggled, trying to push his foot away.

He laughed, breathy. "What was it you wanted me to wait for?" Then he swayed violently before trying to steady himself. He held a hand up to his forehead, his eyes shut. "You can't win… Quisty…" He fell back, hitting the dirt with a loud thud. Quistis lay where she was, unsure of what to do. After a few moments, with no sound from Seifer, she climbed to her feet and looked down at him. When she knelt beside him, she realized that he had lost so much blood that he had actually passed out mid-battle with her.

She sighed and sat beside him. She hit him in his arm, exclaiming, "You idiot!" before she climbed to her feet and tried to pull him up. When she realized that there was no way she'd be able to carry him all the way to the Infirmary, she laid him back down on the ground, pocketed her whip and headed to Nurse Kadowaki's office.

xxx

It was an hour later, after Kadowaki had healed the minor cuts and scrapes with magick and bandaged the more severe wounds, that Quistis sat beside the bed, resting her chin in her hand, with her elbow on the side of the bed. Kadowaki had assured Quistis that he would be fine, he just needed to pace himself in battle. Quistis nodded, even though she told herself that she didn't care how he would be, she was just there because she had nothing else to do so late at night.

"You idiot…" She repeated, before she climbed back up to her feet and left the room.


	3. King of Dragons

Bathwater  
  
By: Riot Girl  
  
(A/n: Thank you for all the reviews!)  
  
Chapter One: King Of Dragons  
  
Quistis ran her hand over the fine cut under her chin. She shook her head. This was getting out of hand. Why had she let Seifer frighten her like that? There was no way he'd actually kill her in the Garden, not while he was surrounded by the most elite SeeD in the world! But then again...Maybe she could provoke him into doing something so that he would get banished...  
  
She shook her head. No, she could not sink to his level and commit the same treacherous crimes he himself had committed. There had to be a way of getting to him, without endangering lives. She turned to the window of her dorm room, and looked over the darkened Quad. She couldn't fight him. He was much too powerful. Maybe he was correct in saying that his power matched Squall's....  
  
Quistis's eyes widened. Maybe she had been going about trying to tame Seifer the wrong way! If violence and threats didn't bruise his enormous personality, maybe kindness could? She laughed out loud. Yeah, be nice to Seifer. Whatever! But-  
  
Quistis was thrown to the floor as a blast shook the Garden. The window in front of her shattered, cutting her along her hairline above her left eye. Through the shattered window, she could see that the once black sky was lit up with a red glow. The Quad was on fire! But how? Were they being attacked? A deafening roar made her clasp her hands over her ears. And before she knew it, she was collapsed amongst the shards of glass.  
  
xxx  
  
Squall wiped the blade down, making sure that not a speck of dust remained on the deadly silver. And then he placed it in it's case, with the finesse of a father laying a sleeping baby to bed. The case was closed and locked. He stood to his feet, and turned to look out the window. He had been given the Headmaster's room, despite his reluctance. Why did he need a bigger room? All he really had was his clothes and his gunblade?   
  
He looked down at the ring on his finger. It was his Griever ring. Rinoa had returned it to him after they defeated Ultimecia. She had left him not too long afterwards...Just like Ellone had all those years ago... Once again, he was alone....  
  
'Rinoa....Where are you?....I wanna hear your voice again....'  
  
He felt a tug at his heart. He shook his head, confused. What...what was happening? Another tug at his heart had him on his knees. He hadn't felt a tug at his heart since Ultimecia summoned Griever. It was because she was tearing a piece of him away and giving it life. But there was no way Ultimecia was here now, she was slain, her powers passed to Edea. Perhaps...perhaps it was Rinoa?  
  
A deafening roar echoed across the large, empty room.   
  
'Bahamut?! Why are you here?!'  
  
He kicked open his gunblade case and quickly assembled the weapon. He had to find out why Bahamut was being summoned. And he knew it meant trouble. Only Rinoa and Edea had summon magick, and neither one would summon a guardian without reason.  
  
xxx  
  
"Quistis!" Seth banged on the door, yelling at the top of his lungs. The Garden was in chaos. Everyone was running about, screaming, dogging pieces of Garden as the ominous dragon blasted holes in Garden. Quistis was nowhere to be found so she had to be in her room. "Quistis!" He sighed, turning the doorknob one more time. Still locked. Was she hurt? With a growl, he kicked the door as hard as he could. It swung open and he rushed into the room.   
  
Quistis was lying underneath the window, a trickle of blood gliding down the side of her face. He kneeled beside her and lifted her into his lap. "Instructor? Please say something!" She couldn't be dead, not her....Seth bit back the tears and checked for a pulse. She still had a good strong pulse, which was a relief. "Cure!" The white aura surrounded her and faded away. Her blue eyes slid open slowly.   
  
"Seth?...What are you doing...?" She looked around the room, confused. There was screams and explosions from outside her room. "What's going on?"  
  
"C'mon, we gotta go, they're evacuating the Garden!" He helped her to her feet, taking her hand in his. They ran from the dorm room. As they ran down the halls to the center of Garden, Seth explained the status of the situation.   
  
"Someone summoned (pant) a guardian and it's (pant) attacking the Garden! (pant) Master Leonhart is fighting (pant) it right now and we (pant) SeeD were commanded to (pant) evacuate all classmen and teachers (pant). We're supposed to take (pant) refuge in Balamb City." He pulled her swiftly through the debris that littered the halls of Garden.   
  
Quistis planted her feet, causing Seth to trip on a chunk of concrete. "Squall? Who's fighting with him?"  
  
"No one, now c'mon. We gotta go!" He grabbed her hand but she yanked it back from his grasp.   
  
"I'm not going to let him fight alone." And with that, she took off in the direction of the Quad.   
  
xxx  
  
Squall hefted the gunblade. Fighting a sorceress was one thing, fighting the King of Dragons was another. He was beginning to lose his edge. It wouldn't be long before he'd fall to the might of Bahamut.   
  
"Tell me!" He roared as he dodged a ball of blue flames. "Why are you here, why have you been summoned?!" Bahamut, although highly capable of communicating, merely swiped in Squall's direction. Squall tried to leap back but he stumbled on a piece of fallen wall and the razor sharp claws raked across his chest. He screamed in pain.   
  
"Leave him alone!" A powerful Ultima blast struck Bahamut in the chest and he pulled away, roaring in rage. Quistis stood in front of Squall, another Ultima spell glowing in the palm of her hand. "Leave Garden now!"   
  
'That I cannot do.'  
  
Bahamut's voice resounded in her mind. His voice sounded ancient and wise. And, maybe it was just Quistis's imagination, he sounded regretful...  
  
"Why not? Why are you attacking Garden? Who summoned you?" She had to get answers.   
  
'That I cannot tell you.'  
  
She growled, and chunked a Thundaga magick at the Guardian. It struck him in the eye. Blinded, he tore about the Quad, dragging his claws about as he went. Quistis screamed as his claws lowered over her. But something struck her in the side and she was knocked out of the way of the claws. Squall screamed as the claws raked across his chest in the opposite direction as before. He had four bloody X's across his middle. He passed out from the pain and loss of blood.   
  
Seifer climbed to his feet, dusting himself off. "What do you think you're doing?! Do you wanna get killed?!" Quistis painfully stood back up. "There's no way you could defeat Bahamut. Besides, Garden was supposed to evacuate! Damn, you'd think that Instructors would follow their own effin' rules!" He ducked expertly as Bahamut's claws came back in their direction.   
  
"Seifer!" Seifer and Quistis turned in the direction of the new voice. Seth was leaping over the rubble with the agility and grace of a cat. He landed softly between them. "You better not harm Instructor Quistis!" Although his hand remained at his side, it was already beginning to glow with magick.   
  
"You idiot, I just saved her! And you were the one who was supposed to escort her to Balamb!" Seth lowered his head.   
  
"Both of you, stop it. We got to get out of here. Bahamut's heading our way!" Quistis yelled, stepping between them to prevent another fight. "Seifer, get Squall."  
  
"No." He was still as defiant as ever, even in the middle of a crisis.   
  
"I'll get him, Instructor." Seth lifted Squall's unconcious form with ease.   
  
"Okay, we got to get to Balamb."  
  
xxx  
  
Upon entering Balamb, the three of them were surprised to find it dark and quiet. There wasn't a single sign of the refugees from Garden.   
  
"Where is everyone?" Quistis whispered. Behind her, Squall groaned. "Seth, get Seifer to the inn and make sure his wounds are treated properly. Seifer and I will search the town on info about the refugees."  
  
"But Instructor-" No way was he going to leave her with Seifer!  
  
"Please, Seth, don't argue with me." She sighed, tired from the journey from Balamb Garden. Seth didn't need to be told twice and he was off in the direction of the inn. Although may not have been the most appropriate time to experiment her theory on Seifer, she was not looking forward to running around town with his tricks stalling them. "Seifer, you're hurt. Let me cure you." She reached towards him. He pulled away from her outstretched hand with the uneasiness of a wild animal.   
  
"I'm fine." He wiped the blood away from his cheek with the sleeve of his trenchcoat. But the gash still continued to bleed.   
  
"Just let me-"  
  
"NO! I'm okay, just leave me alone!" He yelled at her, his voice echoing down the empty stone streets.   
  
"Sorry for trying to help!" She snapped back, sarcastically.   
  
"I don't need your effin' help!" And with that, he was gone into the darkness of Balamb City.   
  
Quistis sighed. 'Well, that's a start.' At least he didn't trip her this time.   
  
xxx  
  
Quistis sat on the edge of the dock, her leg dangling over. Her bare toes grazed the top of the chilly water. She had been sitting here for hours, thinking. Why had Bahamut been summoned? Who had summoned him? It was impossible that Rinoa or Edea would summon the guardian and send him to attack Garden! Or was it....?  
  
Quistis laid back, staring at the stars. In a little while she would head over to the inn and check on Squall's condition. She'd have to find Seifer too. She had to thank him for saving her from Bahamut's claws. She closed her eyes. She would just rest here for a little while....  
  
A pool of blood formed beside her head, from the trickle of blood from her hairline cut....  
  
xxx  
  
Seifer watched from the roof of the inn as Bahamut finished laying siege to Garden. What would the guardian do now? Would it return to his summoner? That would be it's route, if it had finished the mission it had been sent on. But instead of turning to fly out over the sea, it turned in the direction of Balamb City! He leapt to his feet. That would have to mean that the summoner was here, in Balamb!  
  
"Good, Bahamut. You destroyed Garden. That should keep the SeeD out of commission for a while. With Trabia being rebuilt and Galbadia dismantling their SeeD program, I should be free to roam Gaia!"   
  
Seifer peered over the edge of the roof. A form stood directly beneath him, wearing black cloaks. He could not see the stranger's voice. But he did recognize the voice. He leapt off the roof and landed in front of the familiar stranger.   
  
"Rinoa! Why the hell did you summon Bahamut?"  
  
Rinoa slipped around Seifer and took off in the direction of the harbor. Bahamut roared in the distance and sped his flight up, sensing his master's distress. Seifer followed close behind her.   
  
"Rinoa!"  
  
She reached the edge of the dock and leapt as high as she could. White wings sprouted from her back and she flew out of Seifer's reach. "Foolish little man. Rinoa is no longer here. This is only a shell of the girl you once knew!" Rinoa threw back her head and laughed. "To think that you chased me, hoping to catch me. I see that you fled from Garden, escaping Bahamut's wrath. Well, prepare to face it again!" She laughed again. Bahamut hovered behind her, his mouth open, golden energy forming between his fangs.   
  
"Rinoa, don't do this!" Seifer yelled. Then Bahamut released his energy and the dock crumbled, and Seifer fell into the sea.   
  
xxx  
  
(A/n: Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!) 


	4. Indestructible

**Bathwater  
  
By: Riot Girl**  
  
_**(A/n: Thank you for all the reviews! Now here's Chapter Two of Bathwater!)**_  
  
_Chapter Three: Indestructible  
_  
He was floating. Why? His lungs were burning and when he opened his mouth to breathe sweet air, water rushed in, choking him. His eyes shot open. All around him was dark. He was in the ocean but...his senses were fogged. Which way was up? He needed air so desperately but he couldn't risk swimming in the wrong direction. His air supply was quickly diminishing. He had to take a chance. Hopefully, he'd be right. Because his life depended on it.  
  
xxx  
  
"Finally, we meet again."  
  
'What? Ellone is that you?'  
  
"Please...don't do this. You don't understand! My powers don't work like that!" Ellone pitifully tried to plead with the woman cloaked in black. She was on her knees, her white skirt burned at the edges, her shirt in tatters. Her face was smudged and dirty, streaked by tears. "Please, Rinoa...I thought you cared for Squall. Why are you doing this to him?"  
  
'That's what I thought too....' Squall was confused. If Ellone was using her powers to send him to this moment of the past, why was he looking at it from some unknown point of view, and not the view of Rinoa or Ellone? Has Sis's powers been mastered?  
  
Rinoa lowered her hood. Her once warm brown eyes were now spaded and cold. Lifeless..."I indeed did love that man. But now my love for him is far beyond your understanding. To protect him from this vile world, I must make him anew. Take him apart and rebuild him. So he'll be indestructible." Rinoa stepped down from the platform on which sat the same throne that had sat in Ultimecia's castle. "But in order to rebuild him, I must first kill him."  
  
'So that's why she sent Bahamut to Garden. To kill me. But what the hell is she talking about?'  
  
"Look, Rinoa." Ellone climbed to her feet, ran to Rinoa, and grabbed ahold of her hand. "We both love Squall. But by killing him, you are taking the only family I have left. Please Rinoa, I and the world, need Squall Leonhart."  
  
A white blast tore Ellone from Rinoa and threw her across the room. The edges of her skirt burned anew with white flames until she stamped them out.  
  
"Dear, dear Sis...How can I make you see?" The sorceress feigned sadness. "Oh, I know!" A gold aura surrounded her as she laughed. Then the aura faded and a gold lightning bolt struck Ellone. The young woman collapsed with a shriek. When she opened her eyes, the green was marked by spades. Then Rinoa looked in Squall's direction. "Come Bahamut. We have work to do."  
  
What? He was inside Bahamut's memory?!   
  
'What the hell is going on?!'   
  
Squall opened his eyes. He still had no idea about what had happened but he had to find Ellone and Rinoa. The throne had been a giveaway. They were at Ultimecia's castle. But how would he get there? It was impossible without time compression and time compression itself would be impossible to accomplish a second time! Or would it...?  
  
Okay, he would find Edea first. Maybe she had some clues. And she could probably complete a small time compression, one that would last long enough for him to grab Ellone and Rinoa, bring them back to this time. And then, maybe, he could convince Rinoa to NOT kill him long enough for him to get some answers.   
  
But...when he tried to sit up, he was met by a boundary.   
  
Why was he in a full body cast?!   
  
"Somphbody! Helph mphe!" He mumbled, since it was impossible to yell. He sighed when nobody came. This would definitely make things more difficult...  
  
xxx  
  
Seifer swam as hard as he could but he still didn't break the surface. Was he going to the wrong way? Was he doomed to die a pitiful death of drowning? The thought of that increased his will so he swam harder, vowing to live. He was gaining speed until he hit something. Hard. He blinked, stars forming in his eyes.   
  
It was a body.   
  
He gasped, forgetting he was underwater and gasping was hardly possible. Choking again, he splashed around until he realized he was above water. He took deep gulpfuls of air. All this time he had been swimming parallel to the surface of the water. It was a good thing no one was around to witness the stupidity of Seifer. He forced himself to confront the body. He wanted to know who it was. Maybe it was that friggin' Leonhart. Or maybe Seth...? Either would suit him just fine!  
  
"Instructor?" Seifer grabbed Quistis and pulled her to him. Her face was clammy and he couldn't find a sign of breathing. But he did find a weak feeble pulse. "No way! You can't friggin' die! Nah, they'll blame it all on me, 'specially since you told that good-for-nothing Seth that you were going with me!" As much as he hated doing favors for others, this would be an exception. He adjusted her motionless body on his back and began swimming. Hopefully he would find shore soon.   
  
_3 Hours Later   
_  
Seifer gasped. "You gotta be kidding me!" He yelled, which he quickly regreted when water was splashed into his mouth. He began to choke for the third time. He began to flail but when he kicked his foot out, it met something hard. The ground! He found his footing and stood up. The water came up to his waist. Score another one for Seifer and his stupidity.   
  
"I hate the ocean!" He whispered. He carried Quistis in his arms and stumbled towards the shore. When they were far enough up the shore so high tide wouldn't catch them, he collapsed in the sand. Quistis rolled and laid on her side. Seifer stared at her. He should probably do something. But what? There was NO way he was doing CPR. Uh-uh. He looked around. There was chunks of dry wood everywhere. How convient. He would make a fire.  
  
Easy, right?  
  
_1 Hour Later   
_  
Seifer threw the sticks down. "Dammit! Why is it so friggin' hard?" Why was it that he could betray the world, break out of a high security area, kidnap a sorceress and be a knight but he couldn't light a stupid fire?!   
  
He looked back at Quistis. Her lips were blew and she was still shaking from the cold. He had already given her his shirt and his trench coat, so he was freezing. Maybe she had some Fire magick stocked...He concentrated and drew 9 perfectly good Fira magicks. He sighed, making a mental note to beat the crap out of himself after this was all over. He made a pile of the wood and lit it with Fira magick. Within seconds, a huge blaze was going. He picked Quistis up and put her closer to the fire. It wasn't long before the blue faded from her lips and the shivering stopped.   
  
Seifer laid back on the sand. He would get some sleep and in the morning he would try to figure out where they were. He glanced behind him. Mountains? Pshh, what a clue. There was mountains all over Gaia! Oh well...  
  
xxx  
  
Quistis sat up quickly but quickly regretted it. She had a splitting headache. She reached up and touched her hairline. Her fingers came back sticky with blood. Great. No wonder her head hurt. She probably had a concussion. She cast a Cura on herself and felt the cut fade. She grazed her hand across her dry, cracking lips. She tasted sand and spit it out. Sand? Why was there sand on the Balamb City dock?  
  
Finally, her surroundings faded into conciousness. A beach extended for as far as she could see in both directions. In front of her, the ocean; behind her, mountains. It was warm so they had to be either near Timber or on the other side of the country island of Balamb. But since she couldn't see a bridge or Fisherman's Horizon, she was vying for the coast of Balamb. But how did she get here.   
  
"Ugh..."   
  
Quistis's head snapped in the direction of the groan.   
  
"Seifer?! What the-? Where are we? What happened? Why are you bloody? Did you touch me? You better not have touched me!!! Did you? When-" The questions flew out of her mouth and she had to stop to catch her breath. But before she could start again, Seifer held up a hand.   
  
"Please...stop with all the friggin' questions, would ya?!" Seifer yelled. He stood up and stretched, the sun shining on his very muscular body.   
  
"Why is your shirt off?!" Quistis screamed. "Did you rape me? You bastard!" She leapt to her feet and reached for her whip and...It was gone. Had he taken her weapon? Great, not only had she been raped, not she was left with her rapist, unarmed!  
  
"Damn, no! I didn't rape you! You were about to drown so I put your ass on my back and swam close to 20 miles to get here and I put you on the beach. I tried for an hour to light a stupid, effin' fire which was a waste of time because I finally drew Fira magick from you. You were friggin' shivering so I gave you my shirt and my coat so you wouldn't die of hypothermia out here in the middle of nowhere! Because then, goody boy Seth would blame your death on me and I'd be locked up before I could say 'chocobo'!" He finished his screaming then stood there at a loss of what to do. Quistis was staring at him, her blue eyes glassy and unbelieving.   
  
"You saved my life?" She whispered. Impossible. There was no way that the Traitor of Gaia would save her life.   
  
He pointed at her. "Don't think too much of it. I saved your life to save mine, okay?"  
  
She collapsed onto her knees and sat back on her heels. Seifer saved her life? But it was only a year ago when he had tried to kill not only her life but the lives of her friends as well! "You saved my life."  
  
He looked at her, his head cocked like a confused puppy. "Would ya quit sayin' that?!"   
  
He too, then sat. They both sat in silence, not knowing what to do next.  
  
_**(A/n: Well, there's the next chapter. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to review!)**_


	5. Thinking Of You

**Bathwater  
  
By: Riot Girl  
**  
**_(A/n: Thank you for all the reviews!)  
_**  
_Chapter Four: Thinking of You  
_  
Squall sighed. Okay, now to get down to business. He had spent most of the night screaming his muffled screams but no one ever heard his cries. So he would get out of this mess on his own accord. But how? Maybe magick?  
  
He quickly scrolled through his stocked Magick.   
  
Water? Maybe he could cast Water on himself and the hard cast would soak to nothing but a big soggy bandage, which he could easily tear free from! He concentrated and cast the magick. Instead of softening the bandage, the water just turned the inside of the cast extremely damp. Failure number one...  
  
He went back to scrolling through his magick, unfazed by his single failure. As a leader, he had no choice but to not give up in the face of a failure. Firaga magick? A little too powerful. He didn't want to burn himself to a crisp. Fire magick seemed to fit the situation so he tried to concentrate the magick into his in-a-cast-palm. It wasn't long before he felt the warmth of the flames and he saw the bandages begin to crumble beneath the flame. Soon his whole hand was free. But the bandage continued to flame.   
  
In a panic, he threw a random magick at the cast. He suddenly felt a heavy weight on his chest and found it increasingly hard to breathe as the white bandages turned stone grey. Petrification? Great..Now how was he supposed to get out? He had a impulsive idea but he knew it would be painful.  
  
Using his free hand, he grabbed the edge of the bed, dug his fingers in and gave a great tug. He barely moved. So he held on, and gave tug after tug. But when the tearful face of his lost SIs flickered in his mind, he was given strength by his emotions and was able to pull himself halfway off of the bed. The balance was thrown off and he fell to the floor, the cast shattering into a million little pieces beneath him. He yelped in pain as the wounds on his chest reopened.  
  
But this was no time to lament over his wounds. Who cries over spilt milk? Or in this case, spilt blood? He rummaged through the drawers of the bureau until he found a roll of bandages. He made a makeshift tourninquet, tight enough to stop the profuse bleeding, but not tight enough to cut off circulation. When he was satisified with the rough health care he put on himself, he found his blade, put on a shirt and climbed out the window of the inn. He was on his way to the orphanage.   
  
xxx  
  
_Meanwhile..._   
  
Quistis bit her lip, sneaking glances at the very complicated man that stood beside her. She was in disbelief in how different Seifer and Squall really were. Squall was easy to read, although he tried his hardest to hide his emotions and keep them indistinguishable with his cold exterior and simple phrase of "Whatever." Seifer, however, wore his emotions on his sleeve, but even then it was still hard to figure him out because he kept even more emotions hidden under the arrogance and pride that made up his egotistical personality.   
  
She had thought him simple, just plain arrogant, rude, power-hungry Seifer but with every minute, she discovered there was something new to be found. Maybe he wasn't as rough and as tough as he was portrayed to be. Forgetting herself and deep in thought, she stared at him as they walked down the beach, trying to find Balamb.  
  
Seifer ignored her stares for a while, then tried to tolerate it. But then he just got plain sick of it. "What are you looking at?! You've been staring at me for the past hour!" He shouted, stopping and turning in her direction. Seifer glared at her, trying to prove that even though he had saved her life, he wasn't all that great and friendly. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work.  
  
"Y'know what?" She said, smiling calmly while he felt he was about to explode inside. Why was Quistis acting like this? It had only been last night when she had confronted him in the cafeteria, her heart set on killing him. Or at least hurting him. So why was she staring at him in awe!?   
  
He sighed, slumping his shoulders. As much as he despised it, she was his only company and by the looks of it, he was going to spend a lot more time with her as they walked the coast of Balamb so he went along with it. "What?"  
  
"You're not so bad after all." She left it at that and continued the walk, leaving him behind her in the surf.   
  
"What?!?!" Seifer yelled, not believing his ears. Now she was complimenting him?! He made a mental note not to save any one ever again. They get... _wierd_... "What do you mean by that? I'm still me!" He said, jogging lightly to catch up with her.   
  
"I mean, you're not so bad. I can't really say it any simpler, Seifer..." She turned to him, her blue eyes glinting in the afternoon sun. A rather large grin was plastered on her face. The kind of grin she only showed when the almighty Squall Leonhart walked into the room... Uh oh...Seifer stopped in his tracks. She loved that Leonhart, that's why she smiled at him like that. But why the hell was she smiling at him like that now?! He dropped to his knees, in total disbelief. Did she... Did she **love** him?!?!   
  
Quistis's grin faded to a smaller smile, and her eyes locked on his. She fell to her knees in front of him. Seifer's eyes were wild, glancing back and forth between her eyes, looking for some emotion, some telltale sign of just what was going on but he found none. "What...what are you doing?" He stammered, his voice barely above a whisper.   
  
Quistis's heart was beating. Her thoughts a blur. To be honest, she didn't even know what she was doing. She was acting purely impulse, a new thing for the strict instructor who played totally by the rulebook. But with Seifer, she found there was no rulebook. So how could she play by the rules if there was none? But a tiny voice in the back of her mind was desperately calling to her, trying to warn her of the crash-and-burn relationship she felt she wanted to enter. But she heard nothing, only the steady rhythm of her heart and Seifer's breathing.   
  
"Thank you for saving me..." She whispered, her hand grazing the side of his face. And then in one swift movement, Seifer felt her lips press on his. And after that...well, he didn't know what happened because he blacked out.  
  
xxx  
  
Quistis shook her head again, sighing for the twentieth time. "I still can't believe you, Seth!" She said, exasperated. "I can't believe you shot Seifer with a tranquilizer gun! That gun is supposed to be used for the monsters in the Training Center, not guys who save me!"  
  
Seth scratched his head. "Look, I thought he was strangling you. It was my natural instinct to get him off of you. Besides, you never told me what he really was doing." She spun around, her breath catching in her throat. Her blue eyes were wild and refused to meet Seth's steady gaze.  
  
"He, uh, was... Uhm... Look, I had this..." She searched frantically for the words to explain the unbelieveable. There was absolutely no way she was going to tell Seth what they really were doing...She still couldn't believe that she did it, but hey, things are starting to change... "I was...Choking. Yeah, and Seifer was trying to get it out. I couldn't breathe so he was doing...What do you call it? That thing...Where you save someone from like drowning and...?" She looked up at him for help.   
  
Seth cocked an eyebrow. "CPR?" She nodded fervently.   
  
"Yeah, that!" For some reason, he found that hard to believe as a valid reason for why Seifer's mouth was locked on hers and his hands entwined in her undone hair. But if Quistis was going to lie to him, then he'd have no choice but to believe her. He shrugged off the uncertainty that weighted down his shoulders.   
  
"Alright, if you say so." Was his mild reply. His back was turned to her as he looked anxiously out over the coast. He could see a figure in the distance and the telltale blonde hair gave him the identity of the person. Seifer...  
  
She sighed, this time a sigh of relief. Even if he didn't believe her, at least he wasn't going to continuously pressure her about it. Quistis glanced around the room, unsure of what to do next. She and Seth had met up in the home of Molly Dincht, Zell's mother, who had lovingly given Quistis an invite to stay. Selphie, Irvine, and Zell had been there earlier in the morning but left not too long before Quistis arrived.   
  
Molly gave avoided answers, saying that they were searching for a missing person. Quistis wasn't a dull-minded person and she put two-and-two together when Seth told her that she could not visit with Squall for reasons untold. So she was quite sure that it was Squall that had taken leave and led to the creation of a search party.   
  
"I'm..." Seth didn't turn away from the window, even though she had spoken. Normally, he'd stare at her endlessly, hanging onto her every word like her words only would determine his fate. Now, he didn't even give a sign of recognition of her voice. "Well, Seth, I'm going to get a breath of fresh air." She strode over to the door, stopped, looking at Seth for words, glances, anything.   
  
Unfortunately, Seth wasn't stupid either. He knew what Seifer and Quistis had really been up to and Quistis knew that he knew. He was broken now, his love undetermined. How could he trust her again when she had openly and bruntly lied to him?   
  
Quistis left the room without another word.   
  
xxx  
  
Seifer ran his hands through his hair again, like it was a way to soothe his frazzled mind. He was trying so hard to untangle the mess that now lay in front of him as he sat at the coast of Balamb just outside the city. Why had Rinoa summoned and sent Bahamut to destroy Garden? Why had she taken refuge in Balamb City, when she undoubtedly knew that the refugees would swarm in flocks to the city's inner limits? Wouldn't she think of being found and want to avoid that?  
  
Unless she wanted to be found...  
  
But why? Maybe she was being controlled like Seifer had been by the sorceress Ultimecia. But there was no way Ultimecia was controlling the child sorceress now. Ultimecia was long defeated by Squall and his entourage. But who else held the power to enslave the mind of a sorceress? He didn't know, but he would find out.  
  
And there was more questions to be answered. What the hell was going on with Quistis?! Not surprisingly, this was the question that had haunted him with the most intensity and most often. How could she change her opinion about him so quickly? He hadn't known too many people who went from wanting to kill him to wanting to make out with him. She had smiled at him, touched his face, and kissed him..._lovingly_....  
  
That in general surprised him but what surprised him even more were his own mixed feelings. He didn't feel the normal resentment towards her. He had lost all amusement or desire to torment her endlessly like he had done just yesterday. And most of all, he didn't regret the fact that she had indeed kiss him. Besides, didn't he kiss her back? Wasn't it his own rough hands that toyed with her hair? But why had he kissed her back? There was no way he loved her!  
  
_Or did he?  
_  
He quickly shook his head, growling in protest as the little voice in the back of his head stated that last question. No way! He couldn't love her! This was Quistis he was thinking about!  
  
_If you don't love her_, the voice in the back of his mind said slyly, _then why are you thinking of her?  
_  
Seifer smirked.  
  
'Quistis, where ever you are, I'm thinking of you.'  
  
xxx  
  
Rinoa sighed, fighting the tears that had been threatening to plague her since this whole mess had begun. She couldn't help but feel that everything she was going through, had, one way or another, been all her fault. If she hadn't left Squall, chasing feverish fantasies, everything would still be okay. She bowed her head, resting her forehead on her knees that were pulled to her chest. She closed her eyes, thinking back.

_It had been a dark night. She had been in Squall's dorm, laying quietly in his soft embrace. He had long fallen to sleep, his chest heaving up and down in a slow steady rhythm. He had slept, uninterrupted by solid nightmares that had plagued Rinoa. It had been a good week since she had last slept, the terror of the nightmares giving her a case of insomnia.   
  
The nightmares were dark and cold, not to mention cryptic but the message was clear. In her nightmare, she was waiting in the flower field, passing time as she waited for Squall's arrival by trying to catch the soft pink petals floating in the air around her. Her moment of peaceful bliss was interrupted as the sky grew dark and the friendly clouds lost their innocence and grew ominous and menacing.   
  
She grasped the flower petal harder than she had intended to and when she uncurled her pale fingers, a soft white feather had replaced the petal. A sudden breeze caught the solo feather and it wafted towards the tumultuous clouds, which were glowing with the lightning that screeched across the sky. Her chocolate eyes would follow the path of the feather, until it vanished.   
  
Her face remained upturned until large solid drops of water fell to the earth, splashing coldly on her fresh face. She turned to the ground, awed by what she saw. Everytime a drop of water touched a flowering plant or blade of grass, it would ignite momentarily before it would shrivel and die. It wasn't long before she stood in a wasteland, soaked and shivering.   
  
A flash of silver to her left sent her leaping backwards instinctively. She tripped over herself and fell to the ground. She stared, her eyes wide, at the creator of the silver flash. A gunblade, long and unscathed, stood blade down in the ground. And even in the dim light, she could see the fine detailing of a legendary Guardian Force, unknown to everyone except to its creator...  
  
'Squall?' She whispered weakly, her lips blue from the cold.   
  
Her weak cry fell unheard.   
  
She sat, in the rain, gusts of wind causing the blade to sway. She climbed to her feet. "Squall! Where are you?!" She screamed. She began to run, leaving the blade in the ground. She ran as hard as she could, untiringly. She ran through valleys, over mountains, and around rivers and lakes. She was gradually beginning to lose hope. And then she found herself back where she started, in the wasteland that remained of the former flower field.   
  
"Squall...I'm waiting...."  
  
_For what?   
  
_'I'm waiting for you...'  
  
'So if you come here...'  
  
_You'll find me.  
  
_She turned her eyes upward, looking to the source of the replies to her pleas. Instead of the steel blue eyes of her beloved, she found green spaded pupils glaring into her eyes. She screamed but no sound was heard. She tried to take a step back but found that the flower field had vanished. All that remained was her and the spaded sorceress before her.   
  
"What do you want from me?" Rinoa screamed, reaching instinctively for the fine chain and Griever ring at her neck. "I thought we killed you!"  
  
Ultimecia smiled briefly. "Foolish child, have you not yet seen the truth in my existence?"  
  
Rinoa, knowing all too well that she could not fight without Squall, softened her tone. "What do you mean?"  
  
The witch extended her clawed hand, the claws swiping at Rinoa but just went through her as if they were merely phantoms. Ultimecia smiled sadly again, retracting her claws. "I exist only because you exist, child sorceress." She took a step forward. Rinoa, still suspicious, stepped back. "Don't you see, Rinoa? I am you. You are me. We are one."  
  
Chocolate eyes widened in disbelief, as well as sudden fear. "No, I'm not you! I'm Rinoa! There's no way I could be you!" She fell to her knees. "There's no way..."  
  
"It's true. I am you, but in the future. We sorceresses do not age, that is why I -we - have survived til the time of my reign, centuries from now. You become desperate to keep Squall klose to your heart, as more and more assasins try to slay your - our - love. Determined to find a way to immortalize him so that he shall always remain with you, you slowly sukkumb to the darker forms of magick and before you know it, you have become this." Ultimecia motioned towards herself. "You bekome dark and unkontrollable. Even Squall kan't penetrate your insanity. So as you try to kill all the wrong-doers on the earth to protect Squall, he is forced to join SeeD to subdue you..."  
  
Rinoa fell to her knees, trying hard not to believe what she was hearing. But what if it was true? If she ignored the words, she could ultimately lead herself to her death. As well as the lives of thousand of SeeDs all through time. She turned her gaze upwards to Ultimecia, ready to hear the rest of the story. Her fate...  
  
"When the SeeD wage war against you, you fight back, thinking that destroying them will reunite you with Squall. You begin to slay them by the hundreds. But in one moment, you feel Squall's bloodline slowly draining away. You realize that you have killed him by accident. Outraged and disheartened, you flee, hiding away in your kastle you built to ekompass your power. You begin to study your magick to find a way to save him. Resurrect him even. But you kan find no spell so you begin to devise your own magick.  
  
You diskover a machine, created by a late scientist of the odd sorts. You find that using it, you kan kreate a momentary mixed dimension. Time kompression, kalled by you and your fellow SeeD. And...you know the rest of the story..." She smiled sadly, sadness seeming to be the only emotion she's capable of.  
  
"So...That is our fate..." Rinoa sighed, not bothering to brush the tears away. "But...what I don't understand is why we would end up trying to fight Squall instead of protecting him?" She had no denial anymore of Ultimecia's story. But she did have questions.   
  
"So konsumed by our hatred of the korrupted minds in our twisted world, we fall to our hatred. And eventually, we're so lost, that even the face of our beloved cannot save us. The only hope of saving us from our endless circle of deaht, despair, and destruction is...You." Ultimecia closed her eyes and Rinoa did the same. When she opened her eyes again, the witch was gone.   
  
Rinoa climbed to her feet, certain of what she had to do..._And that was the end of the nightmare. Rinoa's mind had been in chaos afterwards, thinking of all the ways she could save herself from the pitiful fate. The one that was deemed most likely was the one she wanted the least to follow through with. Would leaving Squall's side and forgetting her love for him save his life and her own? Desperate, she had returned his ring to him and fled, leaving so many questions unanswered.   
  
She had fled to the flower field, seeking penance for the sins not yet committed. There, she found, not forgiveness, but a mysterious man who played to have answers to her seemingly endless array of questions. He had taken her by the hand, and cared for her so gently and sweetly that she began to fall for him, trust in him building. And just when she had spoken of her devotion to him, he captured her soul, imprisoning her in her own body. He possessed her and used her powers to eliminate Balamb Garden.   
  
Sharing a body with her, the man was privy to her thoughts, feelings, and memories. He used these as tools to further cause her to succumb to his power. She, on the other hand, could not gain access to his pysche, so she had yet to discover the reasoning behind his wish to eliminate the SeeD. Would she ever know?  
  
For some reason, he had hunted down Ellone, who had returned to Winhill to live out her life in peace. He had captured her, playing as Rinoa. Then, by some means, he had passed some of the sorceress's powers unto the young woman, making her a sorceress as well. But why? And what surprised Rinoa the most, was Bahamut...  
  
The mysterious man had toyed with her summoning powers until he found a way to summon Bahamut in a more humanoid form. But what use was the king of dragons as a human?  
  
Quistis, Rinoa, Squall, and Seifer all have questions. But no answers...  
  
**_(A/n: Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!)_**


	6. Disaster Strikes

**Bathwater**

**By: Riot Girl**

_**(A/n: Thank you for all the reviews!)**_

_Chapter Five: Disaster Strikes_

Squall ran his hand through his nearly shorn hair. He had cut it short and died it a faint, almost blonde, brown as part of his disguise. He had also dropped the leather attire and opted for jeans and a black tank top instead. He had to travel low key, buying the cheapest of everything to keep any of the members of the search party off of his trail. He had also begun to go by an alias of Leon, a much more common name than his birthname.

He understood that the reason the others were hunting him down was because they were in fact his friends. They wanted to help him and wanted answers nearly as bad as he did. But not **as **bad. He needed to confront Rinoa himself, by himself. He needed to know...Know why she left him and disappeared for so long and has finally decided to return, rather menacingly. But most of all, he wanted to protect her...

It had been two years since he had last been with her and promised to be her Knight but the burning passion to protect the sorceress was still kindled in his soul. And he didn't care if the price that it cost to protect her was his life...Just as long as she was safe.

"Leon" rested his head against the window, his eyes flicking back and forth as he watched the landscape slide past his view. He yawned and closed his eyes. He would ride the train as far away as it could take him from Balamb and then he'd travel by boat and car to the Orphanage. And then, only then, could he possibly get answers...

His mind was still cluttered as he drifted off to sleep. His sleep was undisturbed. Well, mostly.

The train screeched to a halt and was shaken violently by a loud, piercing roar. His eyes shot open and hands searched for a weapon that wasn't there. He hadn't brought his gunblade because it would've appeared too suspicious. Now he was left to face Bahamut without a weapon. Screaming could be heard from the other cars but his own car remained silent as he scanned the car for something he could use as a weapon. But everything was either welded onto the train car or bolted down.

Of course, bolts and metal didn't keep the king of dragons from wrenching away the side panel of Leon's car. Shrapnel of metal the size of quarters and dimes were shot in his direction. He had to fall and flatten himself to the floor of the car to avoid the fatal shards. This gave Bahamut the perfect opportunity to complete the mission assigned to him by his sorceress.

His large dark wings pumped heavily to keep himself hovering beside the stopped train as his long, death claws reached in through the newly formed door he created. The claws closed tightly around Leon before he even had the chance to fight or run. The claws pulled him from the train, the wings beat harder at the air, and both guardian and Knight took off into the air.

xxx

Edea was sitting at the edge of the ruined orphanage, her soulful spaded eyes looking out over the promised flower field. Here she sat, day after day, slowly wasting her eternal life away. Sometimes, while immersed deeply in her thoughts, she would imagine how life would have been different if she wasn't gifted -cursed- with the power of sorcery.

She always imagined that she'd be a grandmother, or at least a mother. Ever since she had raised and watched her orphanage children enter the world, she had dreamed of having a little girl. Perhaps one as intelligent and sincere as Quisty. Or maybe one as spunky and spontaneous as Selphie. Or maybe one like Ellone, a natural caretaker. It was Ellone who had followed in Matron's footsteps and started her own orphanage.

Or even better, a little boy. One as loyal and devoted as Zell. Or as strong and independent as Seifer. Or like Squall. She smiled as she thought of Ellone and Squall, and the bond between the two. One that may have weakened as they grew older and learned how to live without one another but still unbreakable. She closed her eyes, a content smile plastered on her painted lips.

Her serene moment was interrupted by a flash of lightning, followed by a earth-shaking clap of thunder. A figure in black cloaks appeared in the middle of the flower field in front of the sorceress, lightning grazing the earth and scorching the pale pink flowers. Edea automatically knew that this was some form of a sorceress but not the ones she was used to. This was beyond Adel or even Ultimecia. She could sense some other power source coming from within the being.

_Could it be a guardian within a sorceress...? _The concept, even the mere thought of it, seemed impossible. But then again, after time compression, was anything impossible?

xxx

Quistis stood outside the gates of the city, her blue eyes scanning the horizon. She found what she was searching for as her eyes rested on a solitary figure in the distance, sitting just beyond the waves. The man was immediately recognizable by the infamous white trench coat and shock of blonde hair. She sighed, worked up the courage, and began to step in his direction.

She would talk things through with Seifer, and try to comprehend the suddenly complicated relationship that had arisen between the two of them and that literally blossomed over night. And most of all, she wanted to know if it would go beyond that simple and sweet kiss they had shared. Would she finally have someone she can love and come home to?

As she took step after step, she shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. No... She was cursed when it came to the department of men. Hadn't she lost the only man she ever loved to someone they barely knew? And Seifer was a whole different story. It was unlikely that she -or anyone else, for that matter- would be able to tame him. But there's always the possibility...

She stopped in her tracks as she stood no more than ten feet away from Seifer, the man of her thoughts. The courage had faded and she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. What could she say to him? She knew that he woul want answers but even she had no answers for the feelings that suddenly arisen in her heart.

Her moment of desperation was broken by the sound of chopping and slicing waves as a large, familar ship careened towards the shore. Seifer leaped up and backwards until he stood by Quistis. He stared at her for a few seconds. "What are you-?" He cut himself off mid-sentence as a White SeeD leapt off the orphanage ship and ran towards them.

The SeeD stopped in front of Quistis, paying no attention to the man beside her. That was the way of the White SeeD. They cared for their mission and their children they raised and everything else was unimportant. Right now his mission was to communicate with Quistis and that was what he was going to do.

He placed his hand to his forehead in the traditional SeeD salute. Quistis copied the gesture, her forehead wrinkled with confusion. Why was the White SeeD coming to her?

"Are you Miss Quistis Trepe?" The SeeD asked. Quistis noticed that a worn piece of paper was folded and being clutched in his fist.

She nodded. "I have a letter for you from the Matron Edea." He handed it to the former instructor who took it and immediately opened it. She read it to herself, her face unreadable.

Seifer stared at the White SeeD in disgust. They were all the same. Clones of that friggin Leonhart. Why had he, Seifer, ever wanted to become one? Look where it landed him, confused and with a girl who couldn't make up her mind on whether she hated him or loved him. As he stared at the White SeeD, Quistis's face went through an array of emotions. Only when she made a barely audible gasp did Seifer turn his attention to her. "What's up?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant as if the events of earlier that day did not exist.

To his surprise, her crystal eyes were brimming with tears when she turned to look at him. "It's S-Squall..." She took a deep shuddery breath to regain composure. She turned to the White SeeD and saluted him. The White SeeD ran back to his ship, to continue their endless sailing. Quistis turned her attention back to Seifer. "Squall's been kidnapped. This -" She waved the letter at him. "- is a ransom note that was sent to Edea from his kidnapper. It says that Squall, Ellone and Rinoa will be killed if Edea doesn't come to the flower field by sundown!"

Seifer averted his gaze. He couldn't stand the way she was staring at him, like she expected him to magically just have all of the answers to everything. But there was no way he was going to play hero. Last time someone tried to play hero, it just ended up being a huge mess that led to him imprisonment and release. Why would he put some bad guy through the same crap he'd been through?

"Seifer...?"

"What?!"

"We need to visit Cid."

Seifer stared her, his head cocked to the side. "Wha?"

xxx

Cid was staying at the Balamb Hotel. All through the night he had been responsible for taking names of survivors, casualties and who was missing. He had to assign search parties and parties that would care for the wounded. He had to calm down children and women and had to assign people to scour the remains of Balamb for weapons that could be used in case Bahamut came back for round two. And these were only a few of the tasks that had plagued Cid through the past two days. All in all, it resulted in a very tired guy, running only on lumpy coffee with no sugar. He was not very happy.

So when Quistis and Seifer came in with a letter that said that Squall, Ellone and Rinoa had been kidnapped, he broke.

"What are you asking me for?!" He snapped, slamming his fist and the letter on the table. "I'm not a leader or a hero! Why do you think I put Squall in charge last year with the whole Ultimecia incident last year? Because I was incapable. And once again, I'm unable to do anything and now Squall's missing! What is this world coming to?!" He collapsed his head onto the table with a loud bang.

Quistis and Seifer exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. They were just about to leave when Cid raised his head again. "Y'know what? You two...You are this year's heroes. Have fun. Don't come back without the kidnapper dead or in handcuffs!" He gave a loud hysterical laugh and his head fell again. Within seconds the room was echoing with his loud snores.

xxx

Seifer half-saluted Quistis. "See ya. Have fun bein' a hero!" He turned to walk away but she caught him by the arm. He growled under his breath and turned back to her. See, this is what happens when you save someone's life. You end up having to save EVERYONE'S life, he thought bitterly.

"Seifer, you have to help me. I can't do it alone." She stood on her tippytoes and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Just tell me what to do."

He jerked back. "Well, first off, WOULD YA QUIT WITH THE KISSIN'?"

(a/n: Thank you for reading. Sorry it took me so long to update my story. School started back up (I'm a sophomore! Yay!) and I've been plenty busy! Anyways, thanks and don't forget to review!)


	7. Chaos Ensues

**Bathwater**

**Chapter 6: Chaos Ensues**

(A/n: Since I can't update more often, I decided to make it up to you guys by typing up a really _long _chapter. And I'm not kidding when I say it's l-o-n-g. I took my story home (it had been on my grandma's computer) and worked on it a little every night after school and basketball and this was the result! Hope y'all like it! Don't forget to review, please!)

Quistis had cooled with the kissing as Seifer had requested, realizing that if she pushed the envelope with him too far (even though she knew somewhere, deep down, he _wanted_ the envelope pushed) he wouldn't help her save the kidnapped. And she knew that she couldn't do it alone.

Seifer was amazed that Quistis had listened to him. Was she serious about letting him be the leader? He worked up the courage to ask her after several minutes of silent deliberating. "Uhm…Instructor?" He asked weakly. Why was he so worried about what her answer would be?

Then it struck him. Of course. It was because he wanted to prove to her that Squall wasn't the only _great_ one around. Seifer, too, could save the day - if he really wanted to, of course. Not that he wanted to but he figured that if he went along with it, his name would be cleared and people would treat him a little differently. He wouldn't have to prove that he's tough day in and day out.

"Yes, Seifer?" She asked, not turning to look back at him. They were standing at what remained of the Balamb City dock, waiting for the next ship to come in so they could get to Esthar faster. She stood right on the edge of the ruined platform; one good push and she'd be in over her head. Literally. She had been pretty quiet since Seifer had unofficially taken charge and plotted their next move. And she had always been at least two steps ahead of him. Literally. She hadn't walked beside him since they went to talk with Cid.

She had finally found time to think, to reflect, and to reminisce. She had realized what a fool she had been, from letting Seifer be allowed to return to Balamb, for putting up with him, for trying to confront him, for trying to change him, for loving him… She knew that once the bad guy had been put in chains or sent back to its dimension or whatever, that things would fall back to the way they'd been before. Only this time there'd be an…awkwardness… It'd be like it had been with Squall. She'd try everything to win his heart, thinking that she was making some kind of progress, only to discover that he never once loved her. Would Seifer be another Squall?

"Were you serious when you said I could be leader?" He asked, stepping up beside her. Finally they'd be standing next to each other. It was beginning to get unnerving, constantly talking to the back of her blonde head. But instead of looking to him when she answered, she turned her head to the right and downwards, her eyes cast away from him, the back of her head once again in his view. What was her deal? First she can't keep her lips off of him, the next she can't even stand to look at him?

"Yes, Seifer." She sounded exasperated, exhausted even. Understandable. They had been through a lot in a short period of time. From the attack and destruction of Garden to running to Esthar for help and guidance, there was little time to take the breather that they both needed. Now, waiting for the ship to arrive at the crumbling dock, they were getting the breather - and their minds were still running on opposite tracks.

_It's wrong…This is all wrong…I don't really love him…Who am I fooling? I couldn't keep a man to save my life. Look at Squall, for Hyne's sake. Spent my entire life trying to get him to love me, only to sit and watch him fall for a girl he barely knew. My relationship with Squall ended before it even started…Seifer will probably just be another Squall. We're too different. We have different ideals, different dreams, different goals…Maybe I should give it up…Stop loving him. Or whatever it is I feel for him…_ Quistis bit her lip and shut her eyes tightly, willing herself to wake up from this dream. Or nightmare.

_Maybe I've been wrong about her all the time. The more I spend time with her, the more I realize she's not just some bossy goody-goody. She did friggin' kiss me…And she's not too bad at that either…_ Seifer mentally smacked himself upside his head for thinking that. _Dumb-ass…That's your instructor! Not to mention you grew up with her! She's like a sister to you! That's why you fight with her so much! _He snuck a glance at her. _But it couldn't hurt to try out a different type of girl, could it? Worse comes to worse, she'll go back to hating me but I'm used to that by now… _

Seifer took a deep breath, straightened up and turned to her, willing himself to tell her that he was willing to take a chance. With her.

Quistis sighed, shaking her head slightly, willing herself to tell him that she was an idiot for taking such a chance. With him.

They were facing each other, mouths open, words already forming on their lips when the ship came to a gliding stop beside the dock in front of them. They looked at each other a moment before glancing away.

"Later, can we talk?" He mumbled, the toe of his boot scuffing at the ground. He looked like he was five. To Quistis it briefly brought back memories of the orphanage. Seifer would mumble and scuff his toe along the ground everytime Matron would get onto him. He would say he was sorry and seem sincere but within the next hour, he'd be getting in trouble again.

Quistis shrugged. "Sure." She said simply. She leapt the gap between the boat and the dock and disappeared into the boat. Seifer took another deep breath, somewhat glad that the ship appeared and he didn't have to tell her what was on his mind. But to him it seemed that she was prepared to tell him something too._What could it be? Oh well, I'll just ask her later. _He shrugged and then too leapt over the gap. After the door to the cabin closed behind him, the ship sped off, slicing through the crested waves.

xxx

The two were greeted by Xu, whom they greeted fondly. They had gotten to know her well after the Garden had taken flight. Xu socked Seifer lightly on the shoulder, asking him if he was going to fight the bad guy because he, Seifer, was now a SeeD. Quistis laughed.

"Yeah, right." Seifer said, slumping down in the seat, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Not in this lifetime or the next!" Quistis said through her giggles and the hand covering her mouth. Xu started laughing too. This made Seifer mad. _What the hell is Quistis doing? One minute she's making out with me because I'm a hero and I saved her life, the next she's back to the old days of talking trash about me. _Angered, Seifer barked back.

"At least I could keep a job, dearest Instructor." He said, sneeringly. But instead of striking a nerve, they just laughed harder. Quistis and Xu spent the rest of the boat ride giggling and whispering behind their hands and making little comments that meant nothing to him, asking him stupid questions. Seifer finally snapped and went up on deck, enjoying the salty ocean breeze. Too bad he couldn't enjoy Quistis's company up here as well.

xxx

After Xu and Quistis had stopped giggling long enough to bid each other adieu, Seifer and Quistis jumped into a car provided by the White SeeD to travel the last miles to Esthar. Seifer tried to make small talk with the Instructor but eventually gave up after she kept snapping at him that she was trying to drive. _I tell her to quit with the kissing and she has to stop liking me at all? Well, then she can just go to -_ Seifer was broken from his thoughts as they screeched to a halt in front of the Estharian palace.

The country of Esthar was the only place that did not see changes after the defeat of Ultimecia. Estharian lives were the same as they were before. Even under the command of President Laguna, the technologically advanced country stayed secluded and cut off from the rest of the world.

You'd think it would be an easy task getting into the Palace without having to be ID'ed. Everyone knew the two by name, face, past, and just about everything. News of the heroes (and in this case, hero and villain) spread fast over the world of Gaia and they were treated with respect. Well, except for Seifer.

It took a while for Quistis to assure the guards that he was indeed with her and that no, she wasn't being held hostage, no, she wasn't lying to them just so Seifer wouldn't kill her, no, there was no danger, she just had to talk to the President to discuss the future plans of Balamb's SeeD. They finally let her past, not without searching Seifer roughly for weapons, jostling him around, and giving him death glares. _Looks like the Trepies aren't just located at Garden._ Seifer thought, resisting the urge to slam the guards' faces into the ground with a scissor kick.

They had also assumed that their positions as hero/villain would easily get them a meeting with the President but the secretary persisted that they wait in the lobby. She said that the President was in a very important meeting that demanded his full attention and that he couldn't be called out of the meeting. The people he were meeting with were VIPs, very-important-people, the snobby secretary explained, speaking slowly as if they were five-year-olds. Seifer had begun to clench his fists when Quistis realized it was time to stop fighting with her and just head over to the guest rooms.

Quistis had headed down the hall of the Guest Wing, heading to the room that she had stayed in when Laguna had discussed the plans to defeat Ultimecia a few months earlier. She hadn't intended on letting Seifer in the room with her but when she slipped in the door and tried to shut it behind her, she was met with a growl.

"I'm friggin' standing here!" He snapped, in a bad mood after having Quistis, Xu, two guards, and a friggin' secretary all treat him like crap and not being able to do anything about it.

She spun on him like a cornered cat. "What the hell are you doing in my room anyways? Can't I have some privacy?" She snapped back, trying once again to slam the door shut but he put his boot out and the door was rendered immobile.

Seifer's green eyes were ablaze at this point. He was so sick of being around this woman yet he wanted to be around her. He was so friggin' confused that he felt like he was being ripped in half. And to top it all off, Quistis was having so many mood swings, he was sure that T.O.M. had visited her. That is, the time-of-month had came. "You said we could talk later! This is later!" He said, motioning towards the clock on the wall.

She rolled her eyes and tried to shut the door again but was still met by that big, muddy, black obstruction he called a boot. "Later, Seifer! I don't feel like talking right now!" She reached her hand up to push him backwards but he caught her by the wrist and used it to pull her out of the way. He entered the room and shut the door behind him.

"I don't care if you don't feel like it!" He yelled. "Do you understand me? I'm sick of you leading me around, leading me on…" He stopped himself. Yep, he said it. And by this time, he believed it. She couldn't really love him. She was probably just doing it to make it easier to travel with him. Or control him. _Yeah, that's it. She's a control freak._

Quistis walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, her blue eyes staring blankly at her hands in her lap. She remained quiet. Which was a first whenever Seifer said something that would strike a nerve. Had he struck a nerve…?

He took a couple steps in her direction. He was a foot away but he made himself stop. He wouldn't feel comfortable talking to her about what he had to talk to her about if he was sitting on a friggin' bed with her. "Quistis." She didn't look up. "Tell me. Give me the answer to the question that I've been wanting to ask since you tried to cure me at the dock in Balamb the other night…"

At this, she looked up expectantly, wondering what question he could have. "What the hell is going on with you? With me? With us?" He said, his voice weak. He had intended on being strong, demanding an answer from her, not letting her leave or do anything until she gave him an answer. But now that it was actually happening, his courage faltered.

She sighed, chuckling softly, almost sadly. "Seifer, Seifer, Seifer…" She looked back down at her hands. "I really wish…I really wish I knew."

Seifer stared at her, for some reason what she said wasn't connecting. "Wha?" He asked, tilting his head lightly to the side.

Quistis looked up at him. "I don't know what's going on between us." She shrugged. "Don't you think I'd like an answer to that question as well? I've been asking myself that same question ever since I kissed you."

Despite himself, he sat down beside her, more determined for answers than making sure he wasn't uncomfortable. "What do you mean you don't know?! You have to know! You're friggin' Quistis Trepe, for Hyne's sake! You're the one who got the two of us into this mess and now you say you don't even know why?"

She smiled. "Nope. Not a clue." She looked back down at her hands. Why did she keep doing that? Everytime she looked down, her blonde hair fell over the side of her face and hid her from view. Was she trying to hide her true feelings from him? "I guess I thought at first that I could change you…I was sick of trying to put up with you…You should know that. Remember the night I confronted you in the cafeteria? I had every intention of killing you."

He shook his head, even though he knew she wouldn't see the gesture. "Nah, you wouldn't have. You've always played by the rules and murder isn't in the rulebook."

She jumped suddenly, startling him. Her hands left her lap to latch onto his forearm. "That's it! That's what I thought! I thought I could change you by being nice to you and after you saved me… Well, I thought, 'Hey, I normally play by the rules but with Seifer…There are no rules!' And after that…Well, you know…" Seifer noticed that she still held onto his arm pretty tightly, like she was afraid that he'd just disappear if she let go.

"So basically…it was just an experiment?" He asked, staring at her hand now. Her knuckles were white from her gripping his arm so tightly. "It was all just to see, what if? Could I?" She shrugged.

"I don't know…Maybe at first…But later I thought maybe…" She stopped. She didn't have to finish her sentence. They both knew what the ending of it would be.

He shifted his shoulders uncomfortably, trying to figure out how he would propose his next question. "Hmm…So what about now?…What do you…What do you think now?" He reached his free arm over to hers and gripped hers lightly before returning it to his side. She pulled her arm away quickly like he had burned her.

"I think…" Seifer leaned closer until their sides were touching. He wanted to hear just exactly what she thought. "I think that you and I -"

"Irvine! That hand of yours doesn't belong there!"

Quistis stopped dead, exchanging glances before they both turned to the door of the room. Their eyes followed the turning door knob, followed the swinging of the door as it flew open. Irvine and Selphie stumbled in. Selphie was clinging to Irvine, her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. One of his arms was supporting her, keeping her from falling. The other was unseen. Evidently, it was underneath the fabric of her shirt.

Selphie giggled in Irvine's face, trying to figure out why he had stopped cold in the doorway. "C'mon, silly, we don't have all day. Zell will eventually coming looking for us!" By the blank expression on his face after her indirect suggestion, she knew something was wrong. She followed his gaze and squealed at what she saw.

Quistis was sitting on the bed, Seifer beside her. He was leaning towards her, like he was about to kiss her. But that's not what Selphie had a problem with. She was just embarrassed that they had seen her in a questionable situation with the womanizing cowboy. She leapt from him and scurried from the room, yelping as she did so. Irvine was shaken from his shock and tipped his hat lightly.

"Instructor Trepe. Bastard Traitor. G'day!" He said, taking off down the hall after Selphie, a bit unnerved by the shock of being caught in the act of well, a dirty act.

Quistis and Seifer exchanged glances, still confused.

xxx

Quistis fell into salute as President Laguna entered the room and Zell, Selphie and Irvine did the same. Seifer just nodded his head once before turning his gaze back towards the window. He was aggravated. How is it that Irvine could finally get with Selphie but once he, Seifer, decides to try on Quistis for size, she gives him the cold shoulder abruptly?

"What are the plans, President?" Quistis asked, falling out of salute.

Laguna laughed, his laugh much like Quistis's chuckle had been. Sad. "No need for formalities, Quistis. I'd hoped we were closer than that."

"Of course." She nodded, smiling in acknowledgement.

"I've already discussed the plans with Selphie, Zell, and Irvine. After taking account that Squall was not among the refugees or casualties from Balamb Garden, they formed a search party, worrying that he would take flight and try to find the cause of this disaster on his own. They couldn't find him but the White SeeD did come to them, not long before they visited you, I believe, to tell them of Edea, Rinoa, and Squall's fate. They then came here to borrow the Ragnarok." Laguna turned away from them and looked down at his desk, shuffled some papers before turning back to them.

"There aren't really any plans. We have no clue who - or what - kidnapped the sorceresses and Squall. We don't know how powerful they are or what to expect." Laguna said, shrugging his shoulders.

"So… We just charge in and go by ear?" Quistis said quietly. What happened to the old days when everything was strictly play by play, with rules and limits? Isn't it reckless to rush in without some kind of plan?

He nodded. "And Quistis…You are the leader."

xxx

The Estharian soldiers were stocking the Ragnarok with supplies and Quistis stood surveying the newly revamped ship. After Ultimecia's demise, Esthar had taken the Ragnarok to rebuild it and undo the damage. And from what she could see, they did a good job. It looked nothing like before. It looked new.

It was here she was standing, watching by herself, when Laguna approached her. He was out of the confining business suit and was dressed in the casual wear that she had often seen him wear when they, the gang, had fallen into those dreams during Ultimecia's attack on Gaia. He had not only dropped the suit, but the proud and respectful pose of a president. He now stood beside her, his shoulders rounded, his arms crossed lazily over his chest. His head was hanging slightly, his face worn and tired.

"Laguna?" Quistis asked, concerned.

He smiled sadly, a forced smile. "Quisty? Isn't that what the other children used to call you?" He asked, his voice shuddery. She nodded, taking a step in his direction. What was wrong with him? "Quisty, I need your help…" He turned away from her and began to walk away. She followed him to a small garden centered in the middle of the palace. It was much like the Quad. And it was probably the only place that had things in it that weren't man-made. Laguna sat on a stone bench, his shoulders still slumped forward. In his hand was a small silver charm that his fingers fumbled with.

Quistis sat beside him, her eyes fluttering back and forth between the fountain before them and his face. The fountain was of an angel who was hugging a lion fondly. But something was odd about the lion…It had wings? The image was familiar but the GFs must have erased the details of that memory. "Laguna… What is it that you need my help with?" She whispered, not wanting to disturb the soft sounds of the water trickling from the angel's eyes and the lion's throat.

"I…I have never told anyone this before, not even my own buddies." He said, his hand gripping tightly on the charm as his eyes too looked towards the fountain. "I tried to forget all about her and the life we shared before the mess with Adel. I was guilt-ridden but I was too ashamed of myself to bring myself to return to that place. By the time I did return, they were gone…"

Quistis tilted her head, confused. "Her? They?"

"Raine." A brief image of a woman flickered in Quistis's mind but once again her memory eluded her. Everything was so familiar yet so vague… "While I was traveling as part of the Galbadian army, I was severely injured and a woman in Winhill took me under her care. I was there for a long time. As time went by I found myself falling for Raine and I couldn't leave. She had an adopted daughter named Ellone…I'm sure you know Ellone." He said, glancing in her direction in enough time to see her nod. "Raine and I eventually grew really close. Ellone was then kidnapped by Adel, while Adel was searching for a successor. I left Winhill to save Elle. I saved her but I sent her home. I didn't return to Winhill. It wasn't until later, last year, did I realize that Raine had become pregnant with my child and died in childbirth sixteen years earlier. Ellone told me this when I finally found her aboard the White SeeD ship. She went to Garden with the intentions of finding him to bring him to me but Ultimecia disrupted those plans."

Quistis's head snapped from the fountain to Laguna. "You mean, your child goes to Garden?!" She gasped. He nodded sadly, his eyes locked on the fountain. "But who is he?" Laguna shook his head sadly and opened his fist. In his fist, the charm had made an imprint on his palm. It was the imprint of a lion with wings and a fiery mane. "Griever…?" She whispered. "You are…Squall's father…?" She muttered.

He nodded, sighing loudly. "I wanted so much to meet him, to tell him that I was his father, to let him know that I do care but when I finally met him last year… I couldn't. I don't know why. I guess I thought he'd hate me, or think I abandoned him, Elle and Raine…I'm a coward…"

They sat in silence. Quistis was speechless.

"Quisty, will you save my son? Bring him home to me so I can tell him the truth?" He asked, his voice shuddery again. Quistis stood and saluted him.

"Yessir." She said briefly, realizing that by agreeing, the weight of the world just got a little heavier on her shoulders.

xxx

Zell was sprawled out on one of the chairs in the cockpit when Seifer entered. Seifer stared blankly ahead and walked straight to the captain's chair and sat down. Zell was surprised that he hadn't been called a 'chicken-wuss'. _Man, what's his deal? _Quistis had explained to Zell that Seifer was now a good guy but that didn't mean that Seifer wouldn't act like his old villainous self, did it?

Zell climbed to his feet noisily and ambled over to the other blonde. "So, Seif', I hear your'a good guy now, huh? What made you decide to be a hero?"

Seifer tilted his head in Zell's direction momentarily before looking back at the window. He didn't say a word and his face was emotionless.

_What the hell? What is his problem? This isn't like Seifer…_ So Zell tried the one thing that he knew would get to the traitor. He took a couple of steps back and started to air-box, making small noises with every punch and kick. But still no response. So impatient Zell just sat back down. Seifer sat in the same position, even after Selphie and Irvine had awkwardly entered and attempted to make small talk with him. He would glance at them but that was all. No matter what was said.

It wasn't until Quistis entered the cockpit did he even move his lips.

She nodded curtly to the three SeeD before striding up to Seifer. "Get out of that chair. I'm flying."

Seifer glanced at her. "I'll move under one condition." He said.

She jerked her head towards the window, looking away from him. "I'm really not in the mood for your games, Almasy."

He growled. "Oh, so we're back to formalities, huh? I'm not playing any games, unlike you Quisty and your little mind games." He reached for her arm but she yanked it away from his reach. "We need to talk. Sort things out."

"Just move." She said flatly. He stood, shaking his head as he did so and brushed past her, looking down at her briefly before moving to a seat near the door. He turned to look out the window once again. Quistis sat in the chair, fired up the ship and took off at startling speeds. The three SeeD hurried to buckle their seatbelts.

Zell was the only with enough courage - or stupidity - to ask about the uneasiness between Seifer and Quistis. "Yo, Instructor…"

"Hm?" She said, shortly.

"What's going on between you and the traitor?"

The Ragnarok screeched to a hover and people lurched forward in their seats. Both Seifer and Quistis turned to Zell and snapped, "NOTHING!" Of course, the rest of the ride to Edea's orphanage was characterized by an extremely uneasy silence.

xxx

Rinoa, or the possessed Rinoa, grabbed onto Edea's and Ellone's wrists painfully, her chocolate eyes void of life, even though two souls were living in one body. Edea took the treatment in stride while Ellone struggled.

"Let go!" She cried, yanking her arm, trying to pull her wrist from its grasp. But Rinoa's body seemed to have taken on immense strength.

Edea turned her violet spaded eyes towards Ellone's own green spades. "Do not fight him." She said, her tone almost as void of life as the thing's eyes. Sis stopped struggling long enough to look towards Matron, her eyes wide with confusion.

"No! We can't let it win!" Ellone whispered, as if the thing could not hear her. She knew that was not the case but fear can make people do anything, no matter how strange or hopeless.

"Only by giving in can we defeat the monster within." Edea said shortly, this time emotion was registered in her voice. She sounded hopeful, like she knew that help was heading their way that very moment. Ellone hung her head sadly, still somewhat rebellious. She still wanted to fight, she still believed that she could break free but she oppressed her own emotions and put her trust in Edea's words.

Rinoa's head tilted back, her eyes now glowing as foreign words slipped from her mouth. It was some type of prayer… More likely a curse… The sky darkened around the flower field and the thunder roared. Large cold raindrops fell from the tumultuous sky and shattered into millions of little drops of water as they struck Ellone and Edea. Rinoa seemed to be untouched by the rain, as if an aura surrounded her. Elle looked down and gasped to see that the rain actually burned the flowers that made up the flower field.

It wasn't long before the entire flower field was nothing but a barren wasteland. It was then that Ellone lost consciousness.

When she awoke, she found herself imprisoned in a cold dark place. Nothing existed in this place but herself and two others. She climbed to her feet, her feet treading on what seemed to be nothing but a black void and ran to the slumped bodies on the floor. It was Edea and Rinoa.

She shook them awake, with one question: "What is going on?"

(A/n: Whew! Long, huh? It was going to be longer but… If I had continued making it longer, it would have made it six or seven pages longer and this chapter was already eleven pages long on Microsoft Word so I figured I'd make the six or seven pages a whole other chapter…So, anyways…What do you guys think of my story? Is it going great, good, okay, bad, awful, terrible? I want to hear what you guys think! Review please!)


	8. Ultimecia's Knight

_C_hapter Seven: Ultimecia's Knight 

(A/n: Thank you for being so patient with me. Here's the next chapter of Bathwater!)

Ellone knelt down on her knees, her hands shaky and clinging desperately to the two unconscious sorceresses' arms. _What is going on? Where are we? _Rinoa was the first one to wake up. And when she did, she barely acknowledged Ellone's presence.

Her chocolate brown eyes slid open slowly, the spades becoming more and more prominent as time went by and the title of sorceress became more finely imprinted on her soul. "Ellone? What…?" Before, Rinoa could only watch, a prisoner deep in her own mind, as the man that she had begun to love had turned on her so quickly, enslaving her. She could only watch as he began to prey on the ones she loved and cared for, all like it was a simple game. Apparently it was an easy game for him to play; he held all the aces - Rinoa, Ellone, Edea, and now Squall…

Ellone helped the two sorceresses up to their feet before turning on Rinoa. "What did you do? Why are you doing this to Balamb? Why are you doing this to all those innocent people? Why are you doing this to Squall? Don't you love him!" She screamed, her voice sounding dull and monotonous in the black void that served as their prison. Rinoa hung her head.

Ellone watched with her mouth gaped open as wings curled from Rinoa's back, feather by feather. The feathers had grown less soft and full looking. They looked sickly and faint. When Rinoa sobbed, her shoulders rocking, several feathers fell to the floor. They had lost their pure white colors and had become a dingy gray.

"I never meant to…" Rinoa choked out. "I ran away from Squall to protect him… I never wanted to hurt him! I swear I d-d-didn't!" She reached for the silver chain around her neck but was even more heartbroken when she realized that the comforting, thick metal of Squall's Griever ring was gone and her small ring was all that remained. The one that had yet to be engraved with Griever's image.

She fell to her knees, sobbing pitifully in her hands. Ellone crossed her arms, the guilt gut-wrenching as she watched the young woman cry her heart out. Edea had watched Rinoa's response with soulful eyes until a surge of evil sprung down her spine. She had turned, her black robes swishing through the fallen feathers. A man stepped seemingly out of nowhere, a grin plastered on his face. No, it wasn't a grin… More of a sneer… Or a snarl… Edea was given the impression of a vicious snarling dog… But he had fangs resembling a dragon.

"Ultimecia, please don't cry so much." The man said, the growl curling around the edges of his voice. "You are the most powerful, you shouldn't cry because of this idiot woman here." He gestured toward Ellone with an arm that was wrapped in shredded black and blue cloth. His eyes were a cold piercing blue that sent shivers through her and his face was dark, like it was continuously cloaked in shadows.

Ellone fell to her knees in pain as little spines shot from the man's fingertips and lodged themselves in her chest. She looked down in shock, as little thorns embedded in her chest became chains that surrounded her small frame and became tangled around each other. She turned her attention back towards the menacing stranger as he advanced on the sobbing woman. Edea stepped into his path.

Although she was a good foot shorter than he was, she held herself like she was twenty feet tall. "I know who you are." She said, her voice still eternally calm. "The real Ultimecia did not hide her mind from me when she took over my body. I will not allow you to hurt Rinoa." She spread her arms and Ellone was reminded of an eagle about to take flight and scoop up some unsuspecting prey in her sharp talons.

The man laughed a cold, harsh laugh that brought Elle's hand to her ears. "You are just as big a fool as she is!" He pointed at Elle and once again the spines embedded themselves in her skin; this time she cried out in pain as the spines buried deeper and it grew harder to hold herself and the growing weight of the chains up. "You know as well as I do that Ultimecia lays not more than a few feet from me. Just a little while longer and she will be dark in entirety. And then I shall slay that damn Leonhart and I shall be her knight. You already know that this will be." The sneer on his face grew larger and his eyes darkened as a thick volume materialized in his hand. He held it in front of Edea's face.

"This right here says so." Edea knew that she did not have to read the history book to know that there was some truth in his words. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the fact that Squall and the others had fought Ultimecia was proof enough that Rinoa would become Ultimecia… Edea had known it all along, ever since Ultimecia had taken her body captive and used it for her own bidding. But to warn Rinoa would be in vain; Edea knew that the black curse of being an ultimate sorceress would inflict Rinoa no matter where she ran. No matter where she hid. Edea lowered her eyes to the ground before sweeping around to face Rinoa, who had stopped her tears but now lay pitifully on the ground.

The man slipped past Edea and knelt beside Rinoa, who was still gasping from the sobs. Her eyes were wide and unstaring and she seemed to see right through him. He slipped his hand into hers and with his free hand, brushed the wet hair, feathers, and tears from her face. He mumbled something softly to her, something that the other two could not hear. She responded only with a long pitiful wail that haunted Elle. It was a death cry…

The man climbed to his feet, pulling his sorceress to her feet. She stood beside him, as limp and unmoving as a porcelain doll and with just as much life. He kissed her lightly on her cheek, leaving a black stain on her pale skin where he had touched her. She twisted her head to look at him, the chocolate color of her eyes already beginning to be replaced with streaks of red. She shuddered and feathers fell from her wings. But this time, the missing feathers were replaced with glossy black ones.

xxx

Squall looked around him. It was the flower field. Why had Griever brought him here? He turned and looked to the guardian that he, in a way, had given life to. The guardian lay, crouched like a cat, the razor red wings folded along its visible ribcages. Every breath the cat took was a low rumbling growl. The lion's stormy blue eyes so much like his own was looking out over the sea, as if in contemplation. Squall sighed, and bowed his head. He faintly missed the feeling of his long hair falling along his cheeks, the hair that he had shorn off for apparently no reason. He was a fool to think that a hair cut and a wardrobe change would hide his identity. He had forgotten about the scar, a forgotten gift from an old foe…

Squall coughed out a hoarse laugh. Griever tilted a pointed ear in his direction, listening intently to the man's crazed laughter. Squall's laugh turned to coughs as his dry throat cracked against the rough laughter. He hadn't had anything to drink or eat since he left Molly Dincht's care and Balamb City. He hung his head sadly as he sat down amongst the flowers to wait for whatever the cat was waiting patiently for.

Why had he laughed? Here he was on a stupid rescue mission and he was concerned about his missing hair! Rinoa was in trouble but he hadn't thought of her as he sat under the guard of Griever; he had thought of his newly cut hair. But as his attention turned to Rinoa and he began to reminisce on the happy memories and times he had shared with her, a purr sounded from the deep within Griever's chest. Squall laid back and sighed, praying to Hyne that somehow, somewhere, she was okay and that by nightfall she'd be back in his arms.

xxx

Quistis set the coordinates for Ragnarok's landing in the flower field and then climbed to her feet to look out along the expanse of the sky. She could see the gray column of the lighthouse and the breath caught in her throat. Something lay in the immense field of flowers, something dark and foreboding. "Griever…" She whispered. Selphie, Zell, and Irvine looked at her before climbing to their feet to see the ultimate guardian that they had fought no more than a couple of months ago. Seifer just bowed his head.

_I don't belong here… I'm an idiot… Whoever the hell is trying to screw the world up this time is just like I was… I don't want to fight... I just want Quistis… _But he wasn't sure that he even wanted her anymore… She had given up on him, just like everyone else. He sighed and climbed to his feet to join the others. He might as well play pretend and be the hero for once. He stood behind Quistis, a hair's breadth between them. He could smell the faint smell of her soap and her golden hair glistened in the setting sun's light.

"I thought we killed that damn thing!" Zell exclaimed, raising his fists in anger. "Why the hell does it keep coming back? Is it Ultimecia?" Selphie huddled close to Irvine. She remembered all too clearly the battle with Griever and Ultimecia… She had almost died. Irvy had almost died… They all had almost died. She didn't want to lose any of them! Irvine wrapped an arm around her small waist and lifted his gun up, a dare to Griever to try and hurt his girl.

To their surprise, Quistis began to cry. A single tear coursed down her cheek followed by several others as she silently spilled her sorrow. She wrapped her arms around herself and just cried. Zell lowered his fist, Irvine lowered his gun, and Selphie bit her lip as Quistis cried.

"It never ends." She whispered between sobs. "We can't ever beat it."

"Griever?" Zell questioned softly.

She shook her head. "No… That…" A trembling finger pointed out to the fast approaching flower field.

A dark figure stood on the surface of the ocean. Rich robes cascaded down from the familiar frame that was deathly pale and painted with rich colors. The purple horns, the vein traced skin, the spaded eyes were all too familiar to the approaching heroes. Ultimecia started walking towards the flower field, her feet barely grazing the waves beneath her. She had her eyes focused on something in the flower field beside Griever. A strange smile grazed the sorceress's lips as she came to a stop, all of the flowers burning from her contact.

Seifer's attention wasn't focused on the sorceress that had made his life a living hell. He was focused on Quistis's crying and he was thinking that he just wanted to make her stop crying. He'd do anything to keep her from being so sad but what could he do? Before he knew it, he had taken her up in his arms, his arms tight around her as he buried his face in her neck. "Quisty, stop crying! It's going to be okay! I promise! I won't let nothing hurt you!"

Her tears stopped as her eyes widened in surprise. Her body stiffened at being touched by Seifer but she relaxed and her arms went around him too. She laid her cheek against his blonde hair and sighed. Seifer kissed her lightly on the neck before he set her back down on the floor of the cockpit. He brushed the tears from her face and steadied her with his arms as the Ragnarok landed.

"Let's fight, Quistis." His green eyes were solemn and serious. "But this time, let's fight together." She nodded. They all lifted weapons and hurried out of the ship, less than eager to fight, but eager to protect one another.

xxx

Squall climbed to his feet at the same time Griever did. He saw the woman crossing the sea and watched as she scorched the fields with her touch. Her spaded eyes were locked on his as she strode in his direction. She stopped a few feet in front of him. "Ultimecia." Squall said hoarsely before clearing his throat. "What are you doing here? We killed you. This is not where you belong!" He yelled, sweeping his arm in front of him. Griever's fur lifted and it arched its back, fangs bared.

"Fool…"

Squall hit the ground, blackness surrounding him.

xxx

Quistis saw Squall fall and she ran harder. "Leave him alone!" She found it hard to believe that once again she was saving Squall's life: once from Griever, now here again from Ultimecia. She lifted her whip and watched the knifed tip graze the sorceress's cheek. But Ultimecia did not respond as strange words tumbled from her lips. A black circle appeared beneath Squall and he sank into it like it was water. Quistis grabbed his cold fingers and struggled to hold on to him, to not let him go.

The black vortex began to suck her down but an arm grabbed her roughly around the middle and yanked her backwards. Squall's fingers slipped from hers and then he was gone. Seifer helped Quistis to her feet before pulling out the Hyperion.

Ultimecia laughed harshly. "Seifer? Oh, the little boy came back to play?" The taunt was hell to Seifer's ears and he swiped his Hyperion at her in response.

"I'm not a little boy." He said, as he ran forward, gunblade poised to slice through sorceress flesh.

xxx

Squall opened his eyes and came face to face with Elle. Tears were in her eyes as she helped him up. "What the hell is going on, Sis?" She smiled sadly and pointed in the direction of Rinoa. But by now, it was not really Rinoa… It was Rinoa becoming the ultimate sorceress, Ultimecia, wrapped heavily in the same chains that surrounded Ellone. Ellone's chains had gradually uncoiled from her body, the more that the chains grew on Rinoa/Ultimecia.

"Rin?" He stepped forward cautiously. "'You're… You're Ultimecia?" Edea stepped out from behind the sorceress and Squall looked to her for answers. "Is it true? Is she really Ultimecia?"

Edea nodded sadly. "She ran away from you Squall because she sensed that this is what she would become. She tried to protect you, but while doing so, she forgot to protect herself. She became prey to the man who would be the key player in making her heart dark and cold. And some time in the future, whether it be a few months, or decades from now, she will compress time and fight you and her younger self." Squall stepped towards the imprisoned sorceress.

She did bear resemblance to Rinoa and he knew from his knightly urge to protect her that it _was_ Rinoa. But as he stared deep within her crimson spaded eyes, he knew that the Rinoa he had loved was gone from him.

xxx

The Hyperion slashed upwards but was flung from Seifer's hands as it hit an invisible barrier that surrounded Ultimecia. Seifer spun around and knocked Quistis out of the way of the soaring blade. Zell caught it and tossed it back to Seifer. "What the hell do we do?" He asked the others.

Zell shrugged. Selphie answered Seifer. "We… We don't know!" Her green eyes were wide as she saw the approaching guardian Griever. "Oh no!" Irvine stepped in front of her and peppered the guardian with bullets. The bullets just bounced off and fell to land amongst the flowers. Griever did not react, however. The winged lion just opened its jaws and yawned before curling up and sleeping. "What… Why isn't it attacking us?"

Quistis tucked her whip into the back of her belt. "Remember what Rinoa told us the last time we fought it?"

Selphie frowned, trying to remember. "Rinny said that Griever is just like Squall?" She glanced up at the slumbering guardian and looked back at Quistis. "Squall created it, so it won't attack any of us since we are Squall's friends?" Quistis nodded. "But why did it attack us last time?"

Quistis shook her head. "Last time, Squall was so determined to save Rinoa that he'd do anything to save her. Even kill us." Selphie squealed and demanded that Quistis take it back, but she didn't. The blonde woman just turned back to the sorceress.

Seifer stepped beside Quistis. "What do we do?" Quistis didn't answer him.

As they stood there, contemplating the situation, the past, the present, and what was to become of them all in the future, a dark storm passed overhead. Thunder shook and rumbled the ground beneath them and lightning lit up the quickly darkening sky. Irvine was the one to point out the black vortex above the orphanage.

"What the hell is that!" Zell yelped upon noticing it. He raised his fists to his chin, his form of a security blanket, his duel position. Selphie once again huddled close to Irvine. Some would think that fighting the sorceress Ultimecia would have made these heroes ready to take on anything. But in reality, it had actually weakened them. They were actually terrified of anything that could cause them anymore harm than the pain that they had already been through.

Quistis was the only without her attention focused on the vortex. She had her blue eyes trained on the sorceress, the barrier visible like a heat wave, shimmering around the black witch. Griever blinked lazily, next to her. Out of nowhere, the lion's eyes shot open and spun in Quistis's direction. The storms in his eyes were pleading with her, begging her. She nodded and without warning, took off in the direction of the guardian.

Hearing her footfall amongst the flowers, Seifer spun around. "Quistis!" He shouted, but she was already a foot away from the lion's paw. He took off after her, hoping he wouldn't be too late.

Griever lowered its head to the ground and Quistis wrapped her hand around the spiked collar of the beast without hesitation, swinging a leg up over its neck. When she pulled away and stared at her bloody palm, she saw something running toward her in her peripheral vision. But by time she realized it was Seifer, Griever had leapt into the air, its razor wings beating at the air.

She extended a hand to him and he tried to grab the beast's paw but it flew higher into the sky. She gave him a sorry smile as Griever took flight towards the sorceress. From her perch, she threw an assault of magick as Griever raked his claws across the barrier. This continued on for a few moments, the barrier rippling under the attack.

"Get over here and help out! Quistis has an idea!" Seifer shouted to the others whose attention was still focused on the vortex that was slowly growing larger and more ominous. They ignored him as the black clouds dipped down from the sky and touched the ground in front of them. They watched, dumbstruck, as the clouds pulled away, leaving three bodies on the ground.

Seifer took off to help Quistis and brought his gunblade down on the barrier. But as he did, the blade slipped through the barrier and he fell at the sorceress's feet. He stared up at her. She looked down at him, extending him a hand. Her spaded eyes were alluring and he found himself lifting his hand towards hers.

"Seifer, no!" Quistis screamed. Griever reared up on his back legs and dropped his razor sharp clawed paws onto the sorceress. Seifer saw her spaded eyes fill with blackened tears, just before she was crushed. When Griever lifted his paws, there was nothing but a pile of black feathers, which got caught on the breeze and were pulled into the sky. Griever lowered himself so that Quistis could jump down into Seifer's arms.

She hugged him tightly. "Why, Seifer? Why were you going to take her hand? Didn't you learn anything before?" He kissed the crown of her head.

"It wasn't Ultimecia… It was Rinoa…" He said, pulling away from her. She stared up at him, eyes wide.

"What? What do you mean? No, it was Ultimecia, Seifer." Before he could respond, they heard the screams from the others. When the two spun around, they saw the group cowered against the ground as the three missing women were lifted into the air. Spines shot from off to the side and embedded themselves into the women, becoming thick, heavy chains that bound them together. Seifer grabbed Quistis's hand and pulled her towards the others.

Seifer and Quistis jumped over their comrades and together leapt into the air, trying to grab a foot or a chain or something but they grasped only air. Quistis hit the ground harder than he did, and she cried out in pain as her ankle rolled. Seifer wrapped an arm around her waist and held her up as they looked up at the three sorceresses.

Ellone reached a hand out to the others, her hand trembling and weak, before the chains weighed it down. The chains continued to grow and surround, until the three women were hidden from sight. Behind them, Griever roared in pain. Seifer, Quistis and the others looked behind them. Squall and some mysterious man were in the middle of a heated battle. Squall was bruised and bleeding, while the other man seemed unharmed. Griever stood behind Squall, fighting the urge to join the battle. But it seemed that every hit that Squall took, Griever writhed in pain.

Quistis looked up to Seifer and he nodded. She cast a quick Curaga on her ankle and pulled her whip from her belt. Seifer looked to Zell, who tossed him his Hyperion. "Let's fight this, guys. Let's beat the hell outta this villain!" Seifer said, flashing them a grin. Selphie cheered and the three climbed to their feet. They all took off to join the battle.

Xxx

"Forget it, Squall! You kan't win! She's mine!" The man roared, his voice thick with the same accent that tainted the black sorceress's voice. He swung his double gunblades and Squall struggled to fight him off. He fell back and kicked out at the horned man. The man just jumped into the sky, laughing harshly.

Squall shook his head, lightning in his eyes. He lifted the ring that was dangling from a chain around his neck. Griever roared when his bloody fingers touched the cold metal. "See this, Neero! This is proof! I'm her knight and I will do anything to protect her from you! I love her!"

Neero crossed his arms over his chest. "But she doesn't love you." He said, simply. He narrowed his purple eyes. "If she loved you, she wouldn't have left you cold and alone in the middle of night. If she loved you, she wouldn't have fallen into my arms, Squall. That's the truth and you know it." Neero tilted his head back and roared, feeling victorious.

"What are you doing to them?" Squall yelled over the roars, ignoring Neero's doubts about Rinoa's love. Surely she had run away only to protect him… That had to be the case… _Right? _Neero tilted his head downward to look down at the man with disgust.

"I'm kombining them. Ultimecia is too weak. But join her with the two other exquisite sorceresses of this era and she will be indestructible! And I will be the one kredited for saving her and she will make me her knight!" He sneered at Squall, his fangs bared against the sky. "And then she will free me. After all, it was you that killed her. I shall be the one to kill you and then win her heart over again." He dragged his purple claws toward the chained sorceresses and growled softly. Rinoa's eyes were cold and empty. Neero spun back on Squall, flinging spines in his direction.

"Yo, Squall, watch it!" Zell shouted, tackling him from the side and knocking the gunblader to the ground. The spines caught Zell in his ankle and he hurried to yank them out. When he threw them amongst the flowers, the growing chains burst into flames and engulfed the flowers. The group watched as the fire crawled around them, trapping them in a giant circle. Zell and Irvine helped Squall to his feet and they all lifted their weapons. Neero shook his head before launching the first attack.

Quistis and Seifer's eyes met, the flames reflected in their pupils. _I'm sorry,_ Seifer mouthed. She smiled and shook her head. He grinned back at her, and together they dodged the oncoming assault of flames and magick and lifted their weapons. For once, they were fighting together, not each other.

_(A/n: Hope y'all liked it, next chapter coming soon!)_


	9. The Humaniod Guardian

_Chapter 8: The Humanoid Guardian_

(A/n: Warning: This chapter is pretty violent. It's not too bad but it's a lot worse than any other chapter in this story. I use the violence only for the effect but it's not gory stuff or anything so… yeah…. Just wanted to let y'all know. Enjoy the next chapter of Bathwater!)

He never strayed too far from her while the battle ensued. He always stayed one stride away from her. Now that he knew that she was there for him and she was finally ready to surrender her heart to him, he didn't want to lose her. Every time a magick was flung in her general direction, Seifer suffered his own safety to make sure she was okay.

While battling the group, Neero kept his narrowed eyes on this blonde man with fury. He recognized him as the man who tried to claim his position as Ultimecia's knight when she had captured Edea's body. The dragon tilted his head back and roared. Why was it that he had been able to capture Ultimecia's trust and still find someone to love him? And Neero had been fighting for years for Ultimecia and how did she repay him?

She turned him into a guardian force and locked him away in Terra after he had failed to save her from those in front of him. _But not again… I will save her this time… And if she used him as a puppet, then he will be used again._ Neero turned his full attention to Seifer and opened his mouth. Between his fangs a golden orb of energy began to collect.

xxx

"Seifer!" He spun around, hearing Quistis's cry. Was she hurt? _That bastard! If he hurts her, I swear… _ Seifer's head whipped around looking for Quistis. He didn't find her but he did find Neero with a large orb of golden magick in his mouth, snug between two fangs. Seifer's eyes widened when he realized that the attack of magick was directed towards him. But before he could move, Neero launched the attack forward and struck Seifer square in the chest. Everything went black.

xxx

When he opened his eyes, everything was still pretty black. Panic spread through him for a couple of seconds when he thought that he might be blind. But then a solitary emerged from the darkness in front of him. It was Neero, still stuck in his form halfway between human and dragon. Seifer reached for the gunblade, ready to take care of this freak once and for all but found that his newly acquired weapon was newly gone. So he raised his fists instead, hopping around, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He stood no where near Zell in dueling ability but he had seen that little chicken-wuss air-box enough to get the general idea of it. "Fight me, bastard!" He yelled.

Neero smiled, shaking his head. "You fool. I don't wish to fight you."

Seifer lowered his fists. "Then what the hell did you bring me…here for?" He looked around briefly, wondering where 'here' was.

"'Here' is a dimension halfway between your dying world of Gaia and my – well not 'mine' for long - Terra."

_The hell? Can he read my thoughts!_

"The answer is yes. How do you think I knew how to capture Rinoa's heart and so easily and freely? I can delve into the deep confines of peoples' minds, find things that make them so weak, so helpless that they crumble under my grasp on their fragile minds. " Neero's ever-calm and monotonous voice was driving Seifer insane. So was his talk of Rinoa falling in love with him…

"Just shut the hell up and tell me what you want!" He yelled, slicing the air with his arm. He stared at his arm after he did it, trying to figure out why the movement seemed so familiar. Who had done that before? He didn't have time to ponder as Neero started explaining himself.

"I need your help."

Seifer spat at Neero. "Ha, like I'd help you."

"You will when you hear my story." Neero's ice eyes stared hard and deep in Seifer's eyes so that the blonde man had no choice but to nod his head sullenly. "I come from the era of the woman you know as Ultimecia – " He started.

"That would explain the ugly horns and your friggin' accent." Seifer mumbled. The humanoid dragon continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"I fell in love with Ultimecia soon after she took power. She had just begun slaying SeeDs by the millions, claiming that she was protecting 'him'." Neero snarled, apparently disgusted by the thought of 'him'. I thought that if I helped her fight, she would diskard him as her knight and I would take his place by her side. One day, the SeeD from all three Gardens gathered to attack her one final time. Squall, choosing to head Balamb Garden instead of protect her was killed when she massacred the soldiers. When she realized her mistake, her heart turned black and kold. She kompressed time to try and save him." Neero growled.

"She tried to get him to fall under her kontrol. But he was too koncerned with Ultimecia's earlier form that he killed her. When I failed to protect her, she imprisoned me in the form of a guardian force. I was trapped in Terra, the world aligned with Gaia. Terra is where all guardians reside until they are summoned. When Rinoa found Bahamut, which is my guardian form, she unwittingly unlocked me from Terra. Every battle in which she used me, I could feel her heart weakening and growing closer to the dark."

Seifer sat down, sighing. "Wow, you are a great storyteller." He smirked. Neero didn't hesitate in catching the blonde man's shirt on fire so that he busied himself with putting it out – and didn't busy himself with making smart remarks.

"But I was still trapped. But unknowing to me at the time, Ultimecia from my time came to Rinoa in a dream, trying to convince her to stay away from me so that she wouldn't have to deal with my failure. Ultimecia was konvinced that if she told Rinoa to stay away from me, that she would never accidentally murder Squall. But her plan backfired." Neero grinned, crossing his arms over his chest smugly.

"Rinoa was so koncerned with Squall's safety that she ran from his side when she realized what her fate was. And she ran right into my arms."

Seifer shook his head. Even though his main concern was now Quistis, it still bugged him to hear that this man had used Rinoa from before she became a witch, and even afterwards. But Seifer kept his mouth shut. The sooner the freak told his story, the sooner Seifer could kill him. At least that was Seifer's mindset.

"When she finally told me she loved me and opened her heart and mind to me, I enslaved her body and used her to destroy Garden in attempt to kill Squall so that Ultimecia would be mine and I could serve as her knight. I was also able to force her to break my seal from Terra. Before I could only emerge from Terra when I was summoned. But now I was free to kill him and to love and protect her."

"Since I knew that that idiot Squall would eventually kill her, I tried to kill him but I failed each time. That stupid guardian Griever saved him. When I broke myself free from Terra, I also let that lion escape on accident."

Seifer shrugged. "It happens. But I want to know what you are doing with Squall's sister Elle and Matron if your only concern is Rinoa, or Ultimecia, or whoever."

"If I combine all three sorceresses, then Ultimecia will be invincible and Squall will be unable to defeat her. But I kan't do it…." He roared. "Because Squall is still alive, the bond remains between him and Rinoa as sorceress and knight. So I kan't do anything for her!" Flames shot from his roaring mouth and Seifer scrambled to his feet and out of the way before he was incinerated. He stared at Neero with wide eyes. "The only way for her to be mine is to kill Squall Lionheart… But if she knows that I killed him, she will want nothing to do with me… " He turned his eyes on Seifer, smiling.

Seifer shook his head. "Hell no."

"You were her puppet before, Seifer. Her favorite little boy…" He sneered. "Be a good boy and do her one last favor: slay the man before he can slay her again." He outstretched his clawed hand to Seifer, his eyes tormenting him. Seifer broke the gaze and shook his head.

"No friggin' way! I'm not a little boy! I've grown up. I can handle myself. Ultimecia only served to ruin my life. She offered me a chance to be better than Squall but look at what I turned out to be…" Seifer bowed his head. "I was a wanted man. I starved and struggled to survive. I had to beg to be forgiven. I got down on my knees and begged to be allowed to come home… Do you know what it feels like to beg?"

Neero shrugged, mocking Seifer. "Only little boys beg to get what they want."

Seifer shook his head. "Anyone can beg, when they want something bad enough. I've changed. I'm not that same weak person that she knew. I know that I can be strong on my own. Look at who I am know, look at what I have!"

Neero glared at him. "What do you have?" Before Seifer could reply, he blacked out and then the nightmares filled his mind…

xxx

Quistis fell to her knees. "Where… Where did they go?" Zell came over and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes. "What happened to Seifer? Is he… " She couldn't finish her thought. She refused to believe that he was… dead…

Selphie whimpered and once again, Irvine pulled her close. Squall climbed to his feet and lifted the gunblade up to rest it on his shoulder. He looked back at Quistis, his stormy eyes narrowed at her. He stared at her, furious.

"Neero knows Seifer." He spat out at her. Quistis turned her head to stare at him, confused. "He knows that Seifer helped Ultimecia rise to power. It's all his fault… We are here all because of Seifer Almasy, Quistis…"

She climbed to her feet, tears streaming down her cheeks. "No, that's not true… There's got to be another reason… What happened, happened… Seifer was tricked by Ultimecia, it's not his fault…" Squall acted like he didn't hear a word of what she said. He strode forward, dropping his arm and gunblade to his side so that the blade slid against the ground, slicing the few remaining flowers in the fiery circle.

"Because of him, this whole mess started. Because of him, Rinoa is becoming Ultimecia. Don't you see it, Quistis? It's all his fault!" He yelled, shoving her down to the ground. She cried out in pain and Zell, Selphie, and Irvine gasped but stood there, dumbstruck. They made no move to stop him. "If he is dead, that is what he deserves. Because of him, I've lost her… She is the only person who ever acted like they really cared about me… You just tried to be a replacement for Sis… But Rinoa… She loved me…" His eyes were as dark and cold as the gathering storm clouds over head.

He knelt down beside her as the rain began to pour. She was drenched in seconds. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully. She screamed in pain when she heard the awful cracking and snapping of breaking bones. The others started to run forward. "Stay the hell back!" Squall yelled at them. They hesitated but stopped when he shouted, "That's an order!" Selphie lowered her head as she watched the scene with terror.

Squall turned his attention back to Quistis. "Rinoa is dead to me now. Seifer is dead. And you will pay for it. It is your fault that both of them are dead. Dead, dead, dead." He whispered to her, his face inches from hers. His eyes were filled with so many emotions, she found herself unable to tear her eyes away. And because she could not look away, she didn't see him lift the gunblade and plunge it into her stomach. She screamed and writhed under the pain, but the blade had gone straight through her body and into the ground, pinning her there.

Squall wrapped his hands around her throat and strangled her. He kept his grip tight until her screams had subsided and she fell limp under his hands and blade. He climbed to his feet and yanked the sword from her stomach and wiped it clean with his hands. With his hands bloodied, he lifted her body and tossed it into the flames. Then he began to laugh, tilting his head upwards to the sky, the rain washing away the blood…

xxx

"QUISTIS!"

Seifer climbed to his feet and looked around him. He was standing in the Quad, under the same tree that Tali had been carving her name in when Quistis had stopped him from playing the prank on her. He glanced at the tree and traced his fingers over the letters, 'T', 'A', and 'L'. He pulled out the pocketknife and set about to carve out the last letter of her name.

"Seifer."

He spun around, looking for Quistis. She stood under the willow tree, a warm smile gracing her face. He grinned back before turning to look back at the tree. The tree had disappeared and Tali stood in its place. She held the pocketknife in her hand and she was turning it this way and that, as if inspecting it. She ran her finger over the edge of the blade and when she pulled it away, a line of blood ran across her fingertip. She smiled up at Seifer. "Payback time."

She slipped around him, grabbing Quistis. Seifer shut his eyes as her scream met his ears. When he opened them again and saw Quistis struggling to fight her off, he tried to jump forward to help her but arms grabbed him from behind and held her in place. "Let me go!" Seifer shouted.

Zephyr shook his head. "Because of her, Tali and I nearly died. If she hadn't ran off to play hero with Lionheart, you would have been there for me and Tali. We have to kill her. Because of her, I'm dead." He whispered in Seifer's ear. Seifer's poisonous green eyes widened and he watched as Quistis fell into the bench when the back of her knees hit it and Tali took the chance to plunge the knife deep in her chest. Quistis arched her back and screamed in pain, trying to dig the knife out. But Tali removed it for her. Before stabbing her in the chest several more times. Seifer closed his eyes and fell to his knees, fighting the tears.

xxx

"QUISTIS!"

Seifer lifted his head from the desk and rubbed at his eyes. Had he fallen asleep during class? He looked towards the front of the classroom. Quistis was seated neatly in her desk, her hands folded in front of her. She was smiling at him, and paid no attention to the other students sitting between them. Seifer looked down at his muddy boots before setting them on the desk in front of him. She shook her head and smiled before pointing behind him.

On the table behind him were the monster books that she had passed out during class, when she taught them about the Anacondaur's Gift. He glanced back at her. She nodded, still smiling warmly. Seifer removed his feet from the desk and climbed to his feet and gathered the books up in his arms. He started walking towards her, grinning back at her.

But he tripped, flinging mud everywhere. The books scattered across the room. Seth climbed to his feet and when he pulled his foot back to kick Seifer, Quistis held up a hand. Seth spun on her. "Why do you always defend him? You should have let me take care of him the first time! He's an idiot! He can't be there like I can be there for you! Just let me take care of him!" Quistis climbed to her feet and reached a hand out to Seifer. He stretched out his arm, reaching for her inviting hand.

Seth grabbed her and yanked her back to the desk. He threw her into the chair and using magick, he bound her to the chair. "I'm sick of this, _Instructor Trepe_." He growled. "I'm sick of doing everything for you, always being there for you, just to watch you look at him like that!" He pressed his palm over her heart and began to summon magick. Seifer lowered his head, pressing his face into the mud.

He tried to drown out her screams as Seth killed her…

xxx

"QUISTIS!"

"I'm so sorry… It wasn't supposed to be like this… I came back just for you… Please forgive me…"

Seifer was on his knees, his upper body curled forward, his hands clutching his hair as he muttered to Quistis.

"I should have known this would happen… I can't do anything right… Squall broke your heart and I'm no better… I can't give you everything you need… I'm sorry, Quistis… You're better off without me…"

Neero stepped in front of Seifer. "Who are you, Seifer…? What makes you strong…? Was it Quistis? Was she the one who made you a man, and made you put the little boy in the past? She's dead to you now." His voice had dropped to a murmur and Seifer stopped his mumbling. "What do you have now, Seifer?"

Seifer climbed to his feet. He looked at Neero. "I'll do it."

The dragon guardian smiled. "You'll do what, little boy?"

"I'll kill Squall."

(A/n: Thank you for reading! Don't forget to review. __ )


	10. Kill Squall Leonhart

_Chapter 9: KILL SQUALL LEONHART_

_(A/n: I hope y'all enjoy reading this story as much as I do writing it! Once again, thank you for being so patient in waiting for updates on this story. I'm trying to make it up to you by posting the last four chapters all at once! Am I forgiven? _

The purple blast had struck Seifer painfully in the chest for the second time and he and Neero were back in the flower field of Gaia. Neero's arms were once again crossed over his chest, but the smugness was gone and deadly determination shone in his eyes. Seifer stood behind him, just as lifeless and dull as a porcelain doll, just as Rinoa had. Squall stepped forward.

"Seifer…?" He said softly, testing him.

Seifer lifted his eyes, filled with the same blankness that had Rinoa's. But death, destruction and despair also filled the green of his eyes. Neero handed Hyperion to Seifer, who lifted it and stared at it like it was foreign to him. He tested the weight of the blade but then just let it fall to his side limply.

_Kill Squall Leonhart, Seifer._

Seifer stepped towards Squall, who stepped back, stumbling over a rock. He tried to catch himself but he hit the ground hard. He stared up at Seifer, in disbelief. "Seifer, what's the matter? What did he do to you?" He asked his former rival. Would his former rival become the new enemy? Squall glanced in Quistis's direction before diverting his attention to Seifer, eyeing him, watching for any sign of attack.

"It's all your fault…" Seifer whispered. "I could never be better than you. You grew up… But I'm still a little boy…" He lifted the weapon to his side, his eyes tracing over the steely blade.

Squall shook his head. "You proved to everyone that you are capable, Seifer. You were able to gain the trust and friendship of a sorceress. How were you to know that her intentions were evil? You've shown to people that you are not a little boy anymore." He glanced at Neero, who had not moved, but was watching the scene intently. "Prove to them once again, by being the one to kill Neero. Neero is the threat right now…"

The blonde man shook his head. "You are the threat, Squall. Because you killed Rinoa, we are here today. Because you killed her, thousands of people are dead. You are the little boy, Squall. You were playing with things that you shouldn't and look what you caused." Seifer lifted the blade and brought it down. Squall blocked it with his own gunblade and struggled to keep the tip of the Hyperion from stabbing him through his throat. Squall reached out to kick Seifer's feet and knock him off balance but Seifer was faster.

Seifer grabbed his foot and twisted it. Squall rolled with the twist so that his ankle would snap into a million pieces. The blonde man tried to stab him in the back with his gunblade but Squall somersaulted backwards and jumped back to his feet. What was wrong with Quistis? Why wasn't she doing anything? But he had to clear his mind when Seifer began to swing and slash at him.

xxx

"What happened?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the sun setting over the ocean, and away from his torn and bloodied face. Although the cuts were small and not mortal, she couldn't bear to look at him covered in blood. Especially Squall's blood…

Seifer climbed to his feet from their seat on the wall outside the orphanage and flung the bloody blade into the sea. He watched with cold eyes as it drifted under the water. Hopefully that would be the last time he ever saw that awful weapon… It had caused so much pain to so many people…

"I didn't mean to."

Quistis shook her head and jumped down from the wall, her bare feet thudding softly against the sand. "How do you not mean to, Seifer! How do you not mean to kill Squall! He was the only one who could save all of us and you murdered him!" She screamed at him. He jumped down beside her and reached out to her. She jerked away from his touch. "Don't touch me!" She spat at him. Just when she had thought he had begun to change… She should have known that Seifer would use her to kill Squall. She should have known it. That was the real reason that he came back to Garden. To get revenge.

He reached out again and this time he grabbed her and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her while she screamed and writhed, demanding to be let free. "No, Quistis… It's not what you think…" He murmured. When she continued to scream, he shoved her into the water. She coughed and sputtered, struggling to climb to her feet while the waves crashed against battle worn body. Seifer watched as she swallowed more and more water.

She finally managed to crawl to the dry part of the shore where she coughed and sputtered. Seifer fell to his knees beside her. "I'm sorry, Quistis. I killed Squall because I had to prove myself to you. I had to show you that he wasn't worth ten years of devotion from you." She stared at him. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the fear in her crystal blue eyes. He climbed to his feet and waded into the water. She watched him, her hand at her throat as she coughed some more.

He turned and looked back at her, his eyes filled with tears.

Xxx

Seifer slashed downwards and cut the blade cleanly through Squall's calf. Squall groaned and stumbled, pressing his hands against the gash. The rival slashed the blade again and cut down Squall's other calf. When Squall fell back to the ground, unable to stand anymore, Seifer tossed the blades aside and fell to Squall, bringing his fist to Squall's jaw. He coughed and spit out blood. He tried to fight Seifer off but soon he found his left wrist and right arm broken. He was defenseless.

"Why… Why are… Why are you doing this, Seifer?" Squall choked, as Seifer wreaked havoc on his shattered body. He no longer felt the pain anymore as Seifer dropped hit after hit. Seifer ignored him at first. "What about Quistis?" Lionheart whispered, closing his eyes against the nearing death.

Seifer's fist connected with his jaw again. "Quistis is dead."

"She's… not… dead…"

"SEIFER!"

xxx

"Seifer, what are you doing?" She asked, climbing to her feet. He was slowly walking through the tide water and she could hear every gasp of pain when the seawater splashed against his raw wounds. She followed after him. When she rested a hand on his shoulder, he spun on her. He leaned down to her, and kissed her once, before falling back into the water. She could only watch as he sunk beneath the depths of the dark water. She looked up, only to realize the sun had set. Then she heard him scream her name.

"QUISTIS!"

xxx

The tears welled up in his eyes and he climbed to his feet, staggering. There she lay, nearly hidden from view by the thousands of pink flowers that surround her body. She slowly sat upright, rubbing her eyes. She yawned softly before turning to look in the direction of the voice that had screamed her voice. She saw Seifer standing, bloodied, in front of Squall, who was barely breathing and she scrambled to her feet.

"Seifer, what's going on? Is he… Dead?" Seifer shook his head slowly and she watched as the tears slipped from his eyes and traced through the blood on his cheeks. She watched as he lifted his hands in front of him, which were stained red with blood. He staggered backwards from the nearly dead Squall, shaking his head.

"Seifer, what are you doing?" She asked, in déjà vu. He continued to step away from her. She tried to reach out to him but he turned away from her and grabbed the two gunblades that lay on the ground. He turned his gaze to Neero, who was smiling.

"Great job, Seifer. But guess what I forgot to tell you." He grinned. "She isn't dead. You just killed Squall for nothing, you pathetik little boy!" His head tilted upwards to the raining sky and he roared, drowning out the sounds of the thunder and rain. Seifer walked towards him, staggering and stumbling, but still carrying both gunblades in his hands. Quistis ran to Squall's side.

Neero was still roaring when Seifer plunged both blades into his middle, finally ending this disaster. Finally proving to everyone that he had grown up. He was no longer the little boy everyone thought he was…

xxx

Rinoa looked around. Beside her stood Ellone and Edea. They all cast off their chains and gave each other comforting smiles. They didn't know what all had happened but they knew that it was finally over. For now, anyway. Rinoa saw Quistis bent by a body and she knew it was Squall.

"Help me." Rinoa mumbled. Both Elle and Matron nodded and together they ran to Squall's side, working together to heal him. As the three strongest sorceresses in history, it wasn't long before Squall was blinking up at the four women gathered around him. He smiled and nodded at the three other women before looking at Rinoa.

"Rin… I'm so sorry… I wish I had known…" He closed his eyes but opened them again when he found her back in his arms. He smiled and laughed, yelling, "I love you, Rinoa!" at the top of his lungs. He looked into her eyes, happy to finally see her eyes staring back at him, and not through the glass of a picture frame. "I'm never gonna let you go again…" He whispered, before pulling her in for a kiss.

Edea and Ellone climbed to their feet to attend to Irvine, Zell, and Selphie, who had been unconscious since Seifer had been hit by Neero's magick and transported to the dimension between the worlds of the summoner and the summoned. Finally, Quistis realized what she was missing. She climbed to her feet, turning her eyes to where Neero had stood. The humanoid guardian was gone, and Seifer stood where he had been, his back to her. The two gunblades were at his sides as he stared out over the distance.

She came to his side but he barely even glanced at as he turned and walked over to where Rinoa and Squall were wrapped in each other's embrace. Seifer held a hand out to Rinoa and helped both her and Squall to their feet. "Rinoa…" He mumbled.

She nodded. "Yes, Seifer?"

He grabbed the ring around her neck, looking at his reflection in the uncut metal. "Neero is Bahamut. You have to get rid of the guardian or you risk him taking control of you again." His eyes met hers. Quistis watched him intently, her heart silently breaking. Why had he just walked past her? Squall and Rinoa had their joyous reunion. Where was hers and Seifer's?

Rinoa nodded. "I know… I wish I had known before…I could have stopped this from happening… I've hurt everyone… I'm sorry…" She bowed her head but Seifer tipped her chin up, dropping the ring. It hung from the silver chain around her neck and her hand reached up to curl around it.

"No, don't be. This was all fated to happen. It's not your fault. Not any of it." He reassured her. "But you need to get rid of Bahamut. You need to. No one must ever come in contact with the guardian ever again. Summon him into the ring and toss it into the sea." She nodded and they watched as Bahamut appeared above her, roaring in rage. But he faded to an outline on her ring. Squall helped her remove the chain from her neck and he was the one to fling the ring, containing Neero, into the sea.

When he put the necklace back on her neck, she felt cold metal against her skin. When she looked down, Squall's ring hung in the place of her own. She smiled and fell back into his arms. Quistis turned away and stared out over where Squall had thrown the ring into the ocean. She watched the waves beating the shore and she closed her eyes, feeling like her heart was the shore. And she was suffering…

When she turned back around, Seifer was gone.

_(A/n: Thank you for reading! Don't forget to review!)_


	11. Choking on Contradictions

Chapter Ten: Choking on Contradictions 

She felt like she was suffocating. The breath stuck to her throat and her hand clasped the soft flesh of her throat. Her eyes were wide unblinking. Such a fool she had been… She fell to her knees, hiding her face away from those around her. She had spent her entire life hiding away her pain; today would be no different. She placed her hands over her face as eyes brimmed with tears.

Rinoa climbed to her tiptoes and kissed Squall lightly on the lips. He nodded to her, a look of calm in his usually stormy blue eyes. Rinoa turned on her heel and knelt next to the blonde woman, her arms offering comfort. Quistis allowed herself to be held, the physical solace a stranger to her. She had never been held while she cried before…

Rinoa brushed the hair out of Quistis's face as best as she could while the young woman sobbed. "What… what happened between you and Seifer?" All at once the sobbing stopped. Quistis pulled away, smiling sadly. Her trembling hands wiped away the tears and mascara from her pale face before she looked up at Rinoa. She climbed to her feet and extended a hand and helped Rinoa to her feet.

Quistis's arms wrapped around her own slender frame, as if she was protecting the feelings she held deep within. "Am I crying over what happened…? Or what didn't happen? What wasn't said? What wasn't… felt?" She shrugged. Life is too short, could she really spend another ten years wasting away over a love that was lost before it ever really blossomed? She tossed her hair back over her shoulders, looking out over the ocean. There was life beyond love, and for once in her life, she would find it.

xxx

They all sat along the beach, lined up just like they had done ten years ago when they were all children, living out their broken lives at the orphanage. They sat with their bare feet just inches from the creeping tide and they all sat, laughing and reminiscing. They had all un-junctioned their GFs and found that the memories came flooding back to them. They laughed, they cried, and for once, they just enjoyed their lives together with no other worries or cares.

As the sun set, Quistis found her attention focusing not on the conversation at hand, but on the shifting colors of the setting sun. It was hard to pretend that she didn't love him… When Rinoa had taken Squall's life over by storm, Quistis hid away her feelings forever. Maybe with time she could hide away the feelings she felt for Seifer.

She pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly, as the air grew chilly as the sunk sank slowly beyond the horizon. She rested her chin on her knees and sighed, smiling as she remembered that day on the beach with him after he had saved her life. She had kissed him that day; not for love or any of the feelings like she felt for him today, but merely to make it easier to travel with him. In the end, had it really made it easier? Life was never easy for her.

"Quistis!" A voice called out to her. She shut her eyes, not willing to believe it was him. She scrambled to her feet, a grin stretching from ear to ear. But running towards her was not the arrogant blonde man of her thoughts; it was instead, Seth. Her smile faded a little but she tried to keep her disappointment unnoticeable. He stopped a few feet short and was trembling noticeably. It was as if he was trying to hold back, trying to contain himself.

"I – I thought you were… I though you were… d – d - …" He couldn't bring himself to speak the word. Seth sighed and hung his head, his lean body slumping. He looked back up at her with glassy eyes. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't here to help you… I vowed to protect you from everything, including Almasy, and I failed… I'm sorry…" He stumbled forward, taking her hand tight in his. His silver eyes stared up at her, blinking away the tears.

She smiled sadly and opened her arms to him, and he fell into them gratefully. "Seth, you are a wonderful person, you know that? Any woman would be lucky to have you…" He pulled back a little but didn't let go of her.

"You are the only one I want to be with, Quistis… I've loved you for so long…" He kissed her hand, with such gentleness and care that he sharply contrasted with the man her heart ached for. "Please… just give me a chance…I want to show you happiness…" She pulled him close once more, feeling slightly lightened that her life was appreciated somewhat.

"Seth, I can't promise that I'll love you… The heart can only take so much pain and heartache before it shuts down to any warm feelings… But I will stand by your side, as a friend." His smile slipped away but she hugged him tighter and kissed his cheek. "I don't want to give you false hope but maybe some day I could learn to appreciate your company as much as you do mine." He grinned.

Rinoa felt tears brimming in her eyes. She knew better than to pretend that she knew what Quistis was thinking, or how she was feeling. But she knew as a woman in love herself that closing yourself off was difficult. When she was to be locked away in the Sorceress Globe, she shut herself down, burying her feelings for Squall deep in her heart so that while she wasted away, imprisoned forever, her dreams would be only of his face. But she had accepted, somewhat reluctantly, his willingness to let her leave his side.

As Seth and Quistis sank to the sand, his hand never letting go of hers, Rinoa brushed away the tears and rested her head against Squall's chest, listening to the soft pounding of his heart. It seemed that every heartbeat was a small stab of pain to her own heart as she remembered the words that Neero had fed to her. There was something inside of her that was crying out to her, crying for her to not let her defenses down so quickly. Something that made her mourn for Quistis.

xxx

Time seemed to creep by slowly for her after Seifer left. Before it had felt as someone had clicked fast forward and life was rushing past her. But now that he was gone, it seemed like hardly any time ever passed.

They returned to Garden. The world, naïve as it was to danger, assumed Squall was the hero once more but he denounced their claims, naming Seifer and Quistis as sole heroes of the almost Third Sorceress War. He had placed his hand on Quistis's shoulder as he announced it to Garden, a touch of solace, tinged with pity. She had to steel herself to keep from pushing his hand away. She knew that it was an attempt to lessen her pain but they didn't seem to understand that she was ready to move on as best she could.

And move on she tried to do. She promptly brought her books, her card key, and her students' test papers and marched through the double mahogany doors of the headmaster's office and dumped them on Squall's desk, grinning up at him. He nodded his head, smiling back. "Time for a break?" He questioned. She ran a hand back through her golden tresses that fell down her back.

"I'm not going to be an Instructor anymore. Nothing but a field SeeD." She swept the refused items off of the desk and into the small metal trashcan next to it. She sighed. "Let me know when you have something big. I need a challenge." He couldn't help but laugh as she sauntered out of his room. He thought about calling her back and letting her know that the black t-shirt and the ripped jeans violated dress code but decided against it. He didn't think she'd listen anyways.

Seth was waiting for her in the elevator, a grin on his face. "How'd he take it?" She shrugged. He laughed and brought her close to him, kissing her softly on her neck. The smile slipped from her face but she rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in slowly. She closed her eyes and found that it wasn't Seth's hands resting on her back, but Seifer's. It was Seifer's heart that was beating next to hers.

"Quistis are you okay?" But yet, it wasn't Seifer's voice questioning her well being. She pulled back and forced a smile to her face. She turned and pressed a finger – brightened with hot pink fingernail polish – on the first floor button. She turned back to him slowly, still unbelieving that it wasn't Seifer standing in the elevator with her. She nodded.

"We better hurry; Selphie will be pretty furious if we are late for the Festival Committee meeting." He nodded, his eyes still focused on hers. It wore him down sometimes, her constant remorse over the past, but he still loved her and devoted himself to showing her that there was more to the world than whatever had happened between herself and that traitor Almasy.

They remained silent during the walk to the Quad but Quistis could feel his eyes watching her, looking for her to let some emotion slip so that he could be there to catch her. But she always buried them away. She understood that he just wanted to help ease the pain, as did all of the others, but she wasn't sure she wanted help to alleviate it. The pain was real, and was all that she had left of Seifer.

Selphie squealed with glee when she saw the two of them descending the steps from the school and into the Quad. Seth smiled and waved to the young bouncing brunette while Quistis barely managed a nod; her eyes were on the willow tree that she had sat under so many times, and the thoughts that crossed her mind while she rested under its protective branches.

Her eyes traced to the opposite end of the Quad where Seifer, Zephyr and Tali had stood where she had hit them with the Watera magick. She sighed, but quickly put a grin on her face as Seth turned to look back at her over his shoulder. She didn't want him to know that she was suffering when he was trying to hard to make her happy.

All of a sudden, a heavy weight hit Quistis in her stomach and she stumbled back slightly. She looked down to find her hands filled with paint cans and brushes. She lifted her blue eyes to find Selphie staring at her with her enormous forest green ones. Her childish hands were planted firmly on her bony hips. "Today… We paint!" Selphie said with a giggle. Quistis couldn't help but laugh. Selphie never changed.

xxx

He groaned loudly, shifting in his sleep. But he was jerked awake when he nearly lost his balance and fell from the narrow fallen column that now served as his bed. He tried to catch himself but fell hard to the stone floor. He groaned once more and banged his fist on the floor in anger. He was a Knight, then a Traitor, then a Coward. Now he couldn't even sleep right.

He struggled to climb to his feet and swayed. When had he eaten last? He shook his head, warding off the dizziness and fatigue and limped down the corridor. He had been in Centra for who knows how long now. After he had left her, running away like a coward, he had hid himself away in the most remote place to drown in remorse.

It wasn't that he didn't want to be with her… Hyne knew that he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her. It's just that… love scared him… It scared him more than anything else, even more than the black witch Ultimecia. He had vague memories of his parents and how much he loved them and they bitterly left him alone in the streets, to be shipped off to the orphanage. He remembered loving Rinoa once, only to find out that her 'love' originated only from the desire to get close to anybody from Garden so that she could get help in obtaining Timber's independence. And what would happen if he opened his heart to Quistis?

He quickly scaled the narrow, crumbling steps to the top of the Centra Ruins. He sat, his back against the wall and his legs hanging over the edge as he gazed out over the wilderness surrounding him. Before the mission, all he wanted to do was to torment her endlessly, cause her every last bit of pain conceivable, but now… He wanted to be the one to protect her from the pain, to wipe away her tears when she was sad, and to be the one for her to wake up next to every morning. But instead he had run away…

He considered returning to Garden every day but he didn't want to see the hurt in her eyes caused by his abrupt departure. He didn't want to see the tears falling down her face because they can't be together. He honestly believed that even if he were to chase his foolish love for her, he would only end up hurting her. And that was the last thing he wanted, was to hurt her.

He was suffering, torn between returning to her and risking hurting her deeply, or to stay here and live on the rest of his life alone while she put him in the past.

xxx

He had given up on trying to balance his body on the fallen pillar and instead opted for the floor, even though the thought of rats crawling over his body as he slept gave him chills. He wrapped the shred of cloth tightly around his body and adjusted his trench coat, which now served as his pillow. He groaned and shuddered, the cold bitter against his flesh. He lay there, angry and defeated, the only sound his breathing coming out in fogs in front of his face.

He rolled over to his side, pulling the cloth over his face instead. He couldn't get her face out of his mind and it kept him from sleeping. Then he heard it. It was a soft whisper, carried in on the freezing air. It whispered to him it seemed, a beckoning hand in front of his face. He narrowed his eyes, trying to decipher the whispery voice. He climbed to his feet and stumbled down the hall, the whisper slowly growing in volume. Then it hit him.

It was his old buddy, old partner in crime, Zephyr! And he was talking to Tali. Seifer recognized her curt answers. Seifer started to round the corner to reunite with his old companions when something stopped him dead in his tracks. They had mentioned Quistis's voice. And it wasn't happiness or content that rang out in their voices against the cold stone surrounding them. It was vengeance. Seifer stumbled backwards, their words dying down. He fell back over a rock, crashing once more painfully to the ground.

He heard the conversation stop and he held his breath that they would not come looking for him. He suddenly understood. He understood everything. He had to return to Balamb, he had to. The world might depend on it. He scrambled to his feet, not caring whether they heard or saw him anymore. All that mattered was that he returned to Garden, that he returned to her before it was too late...

_(A/n: I'm sorry. I told you this would be the last chapter but it's not! One more chapter to go! Thank you for reading and please review!)_


	12. Nighttime Betrayals

Chapter Eleven: Nighttime Betrayal

It didn't take him long to make his way across land and sea to return to what could be considered his true home for the past ten years before he had exiled himself to Centra. He barely even remembered how exactly he had made it to the harbor of Balamb City but he didn't care as he stumbled down the cobblestone street, no longer bothering with disguises or hiding away his recognizable face. People stopped in their tracks and pointed, their lips fluttering as they whispered to one another about the sudden and mysterious return of the man who had single-handedly led to the Second Sorceress War and prevented a third Sorceress War.

His eyes remained locked on the ground beneath his feet and in his mind he was counting the steps he took, trying to keep his skin from flushing. What had been said after the others had returned home? He could only imagine what had been said about him, but what had Quistis told everyone about what had happened between her and him? That was what worrying him… He didn't know what he feared most: her having told the truth or her having lied to everyone.

A small girl ran in front of Seifer and he nearly tumbled to the ground in his efforts to keep from running into her. She steeled herself, her hands planted on her tiny waist, her brown pigtails fluttering in the salty breeze that wafted over the crested waves behind them. Seifer recognized her as the daughter of the inn owner. He shrugged and scratched the back of his neck, her staring eyes a little unsettling. Finally a crooked smile broke across her face.

"Seifer? Did you really beat the bad guy and save everyone?" He couldn't help but laugh as her head cocked lightly to the side as she questioned him, so much like a little puppy that had strayed across his path. But he couldn't answer her question. True he had defeated Neero… But he had nearly killed Squall in the process. And he had turned his back and ran from Quistis… Finally the little girl nodded her head fervently and held her hand up to him. "You're a hero, Seif'!" She insisted, stamping her foot, her little childish hand extended in his direction. He took it in his own and she shook it before taking off, beaming.

Seifer found that after that encounter, instead of counting the steps he took back to Quistis, that he counted how many people had stopped to stare, and sometimes wave or call out to him. And how many people had gone from calling him 'traitor' to calling him a 'hero'.

xxx

Quistis sighed and set the brush back into the tray of paint and rolled her shoulders. Seth glanced over at her, constantly checking on her. She smiled warmly and pointed to her wrist, which popped as she rolled it, trying to ease the tension that had come from painting relentlessly for a good majority of the afternoon. He nodded his head and set his brush down as well.

"She's a little slave driver, isn't she?" Seth asked as he reclined back on the ground, his arms behind his head. Luckily for them, Selphie was on the other side of the Quad, helping to plan something much bigger than the Garden Festival. Quistis laughed and scooted over closer to him. She leaned forward and began to trace the splatters of paint on his shirt. Every now and then he would squirm and she would give him a questioning look. "Be careful, I'm ticklish!" He stammered as her fingers ran once more over his ribs.

She gave him a devilish grin and he shook his head. Her grin only widened before her fingertips attacked his rib cage and he laughed breathlessly. Finally he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She was so close to him that she couldn't get her arms down to his rib cage to continue tickling him. So instead she looked down into his face and smiled softly, her eyes sparkling in the mid-afternoon sun.

His hands reached up to caress her smooth skin before he pulled her down for a kiss. When she finally pulled away, Seth's grin was brighter than the sun that hung above them. And Quistis couldn't help but smile back. It had been almost a year since Seifer had left her behind in the wake of a near war to suffer. And she had found that moving on beyond the love that was lost before it was ever really found was much easier than she had ever expected.

She had spent her entire life reaching out for love that never really reached back to her when all along there was someone patiently waiting right in front of her. As time passed and she grew happier with Seth, she couldn't understand why it had taken her so long to move on beyond the impossible and just be happy. But everything became clear the day Seth asked her to marry him…

Quistis's eyes roamed down from his face to the thin silver band on her ring finger. The engagement ring had been a surprise to her. She had always dreamt of falling in love, but never of getting married. She had never really found herself worthy for the eternal union of two souls… And her she was, sitting with her fiancé, young and enjoying life, the day before her wedding.

She had more than willingly passed the torch of planning the wedding onto the more than willing Selphie. The young brunette had always taken such pride in the planning, devotion and work put into the Garden Festival that Quistis knew that the wedding planning belonged in her skilled hands. And in the course of time, Quistis had even come to call Selphie as one of her best friends.

"What are you thinking about, Quisty?" He questioned, reaching up to tuck a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She smiled and reached back to pick up the paintbrush. She glanced at the brush before shooting him a devilish grin once more. His eyes widened and he struggled to sit up before she could splash him with paint.

"You." She giggled before dragging the brush across the side of his face.

Seifer watched all of this with a heavy heart. He should have known it would have been this way but it had never crossed his mind that she would have found someone else to fill her days with. The worst he had imagined in his absence would be that she had moved on beyond what had happened between them. But nothing could be done now… What had he expected? That she would have waited patiently for him after all of this time and that she would just jump into his arms on his arrival?

He shook his head and sat back down in the bushes, his eyes burning. It was too late… She was happy with Seth now; happier than she ever could have been with him… Seifer felt that his heart was breaking. He had only ever wanted to prove himself to everyone that he was no longer a little boy, but a man, and he had proven nothing. He couldn't even be the man that Quistis needed in her life to love and support her. He clenched his eyes shut, unwilling to cry. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried…

"I'm so excited about tomorrow!" A voice squealed from outside the bushes. His tears were momentarily forgotten as he peeked through the bushes, trying to see who was talking and what about. Had popularity over the Garden Festival risen since his disappearance?

"I know! It is pretty exciting." Stated a mellower speaker.

"Did you already get your dress? I'm so worried that I'll be overdressed or underdressed… How do you dress for a wedding? I mean, if you're not in the wedding party or the bride or anything?" The first voice whined, the high pitches almost rivaling those of Selphie. Seifer's heart caught in his throat and he held his breath. They had to be talking about Squall and Rinoa… They had to be getting married tomorrow… It couldn't be…

"Why don't you just ask Quistis? It is her wedding after all!" Seifer jumped from the bushes, ignoring the screams from the two seated girls and ran out the gates of Balamb Garden. He was such a fool…

xxx

Quistis left Seth at the door of his dorm after giving him a simple yet sweet goodbye kiss. He almost didn't quite let her go. This was the last time they would see each other before the wedding and he didn't want to spend the night alone. But she smiled knowingly and pulled her hand from his grasp and retreated down the hall to her own dorm, calling back a warning if he tried to end up in her dorm tonight. "It's bad luck to see a bride before the wedding!" She had told him. He had reluctantly headed into his own dorm and Quistis couldn't help but laugh at how downtrodden he tried to look. She slipped into her own dorm and rested her back against the now closed door, her eyes slipping shut. She let out a deep breath, nerves playing games with her stomach, which was doing flip flops at the moment.

She almost couldn't believe that it was happening, that she was getting married. She was glad that the groom and bride shouldn't be together the night before their wedding; Seth would have been distraught at knowing all the emotions she was going through. She was happy, no doubt. She had finally found someone to love her, someone that she could even love back. But there was still that voice crying out to her in the back of her mind, reminding her…

That voice cried out to her almost daily but she had grown used to it and could even drown it out by now. It cried to her, asking her to wait a little longer, that Seifer would be back for her soon. That he indeed did love her, he was just scared. But he hadn't been back yet and if he did _indeed_ love her, would he have left in the first place? Love had made her cynical. Love had made her foolish. And now, love would make her married. She was done waiting around for the impossible.

Quistis lifted her blue eyes towards her bedroom for the first time and time seemed to standstill. She wasn't even aware if she was breathing and her limbs had frozen like she had been struck by paralysis. This couldn't be real… It had to be a dream… She sank slowly to the floor, her eyes glued.

He climbed to his feet and she could see even in the faint moonlight that he was gaunt and weak. Yet his arms were still strong as he pulled her to her feet and hoisted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. He laid her down ever so gently and his fingers ran through her blonde hair as he sat on the edge of the bed beside her. She could see the tears in his eyes and just seeing that he was in such pain, she nearly erupted into tears. But she held back the tidal wave emotions to whisper his name.

"Seifer…?"

He smiled weakly, his body trembling. "Do you hate me?" She shook her head fervently but he still didn't seem convinced. "I wouldn't blame you even if you did. I hurt you. More than Neero ever could have." He took a deep breath and let it out shuddery. "I didn't want to leave you, Quisty… I was scared…" He buried his face in his hands, slowly breaking down as the seconds crawled by. She sat up, her hands wanting to hold him, to comfort him but she was still shaken by the fact that he was even here. Finally she broke through the barrier and wrapped her arms around him tightly, whispering words of comfort in his ear.

"I don't hate you, Seifer… I did in the beginning but as time went on… I didn't mean to… It was an accident that I fell in love with you…" His eyes lifted to her face at this, a look written across his features like he couldn't believe that she could ever love a wretch like him. "In the beginning, it was just to make you easier to travel with but in the end… " She hesitated and she could feel him trembling beneath her touch. "I wanted to travel with you. I wanted nothing more than to be with you…"

He lifted her left hand, staring blankly at the ring on her finger. "I thought you wanted nothing more than to be with me?" His voice was hollow and dull. Anger struck her and fire danced in her eyes.

"What did you expect me to do? You ran just when I needed you the most! But Seth was there for me… He was there for me…" She trailed off and silence deadened the air between them. She moved first, climbing to her feet, pulling away from his deadened embrace. "I'm done waiting for things that are never going to come around… I wasn't going to wait for you, Seifer…" A single tear strolled down her cheek, curving its way down the ivory curves of her face.

She threw her arms up, and flung them back down in frustration. "I may be wearing Seth's rings, but my heart belongs to you. I am still waiting for you, Seifer. What are we going to do?" He buried his face in his hands in silent agony. He hadn't thought too much of what he was going to do once he arrived here, he just knew he had to see her. But all thoughts of Zephyr and Tali were out of his mind, warnings forgotten.

"I don't know.. I really don't know Quistis. It looks like you already made your decision without me. So…" His words stumbled off and she could hear the pain oozing from every word. Her eyes filled with tears as she watched him climb to his feet with a degree of difficulty and watched with waterfall eyes as he rested his forehead on the door and reached his hand to the keypad. His finger was nearly on the button when she finally broke.

"Seifer!" She called out his name, half in desperation, half in pain, and all in love. He turned back towards her and found his arms full of her, his cheek pressed to hers. She clung to him tightly, letting out all of the built up tears and fears that had been haunting her ever since she had turned around to find Seifer gone. "I'm so sorry! It's just been so hard… I wasn't sure if you were going to come back… I was so scared and I… I hurt so much…" He held her tighter and tighter, trying his hardest to not let all of the emotions out.

He placed back on her feet, and his hands left her arms and he placed his palms on her cheeks. He smiled at her sadly, brushing away her tears with his thumbs. "I love you, Quistis… I really do…" Her breath caught in her throat with a sob but as soon as she could manage, she whispered it back, the smile forming on her face, while her eyes still glistened with tears in the moonlight.

"I love you too Seifer…"

"Quisty?"

"Yes, Seifer?"

"Remember when I told you to quit with the kissing?"

She laughed, the sound music to his ears. He hated seeing her so sad and just knowing that for once he was the one making her happy filled him to the max with joy. "Yes…?"

He grinned and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her so close to him that he could feel her heart beating in her chest, swift, rapid beats, and he could feel her soft breathing on his throat. "I take it back. I don't ever want you to stop kissing me…" Their eyes met and it seemed like time was being compressed again. Everything and nothing zipped across their minds as everything around them froze. Standing before each other was all that mattered, at the moment and forever.

She smiled and climbed to her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. And the time compression fell apart in the form of them falling into bed and falling in love all over again…

xxx

Seifer woke with the sun on his face and the world at his fingertips. Well, maybe not the world, but what was _his_ world – Quistis. He smiled and traced his fingertips along the lines of her face, ever so softly so that he wouldn't wake her from her slumber. He was careful to climb out of the bed without disturbing and slipped on his shirt. He jumped into the bathroom to clean up a little before walking to the door of the dorm.

At the door he turned back to look at her, one last look in a moment of peace. He had to leave to go to the Headmaster's office to tell him about the foreboding tones in Zephyr and Tali's voices as they spoke of Garden at the Centra Ruins. What they were planning, Seifer had no clue, but he knew that if he warned Squall, Squall would make the necessary precautions. Seifer had seen what kind of a leader Squall was and knew that he was the one he could count on. Seifer almost envied his accountability and how easily everyone gave their trust to Leonhart.

Seifer sighed, capturing the image of her sleeping soundly with a smile on her face in his mind, and slipped through the door, locking it behind him. He hated to leave her and he hoped that nothing bad would happen in the short time he would be gone. It would be devastating to have lost her once, to win her heart again, and to lose her all over again.

He had been somewhat anxious about the walk to the elevators. His face had been unseen since he and Quistis had left Balamb City to defeat Neero and he had no clue what Squall and Quistis had told the other students about his part in Neero's defeat. But he found that he could walk through Garden almost invisibly. Students seemed to be rushing around, in preparation of something, and not once did their eyes settle on him. Only once did another student acknowledge his presence and that was only when they said 'excuse me' from a stack of boxes that obscured their vision of exactly who was in their way.

It wasn't until Seifer saw that all the students seemed to be heading in the same direction did he realized it. Today was what was supposed to be Quistis's wedding day. As he stood, waiting for the doors of the elevator to slide open with a slight whoosh and a bing, he almost turned tail and ran straight back to the dorm room. He wanted to hear again from her own lips that she loved him, not Seth, that he was the one she wanted to be with. But he waved away his doubts, willing himself to stay calm.

The night they had spent together was proof enough that she wanted to be with him and only him. In the dark corners of the night she had made the vow to be with him until death, and forever afterwards. And then she sealed this promise by giving him her last bit of purity, her innocence, her virginity. She had dug her nails into his back and bit at his shoulder, but soon she whispered into his ear with every thrust that she loved him and only him.

And he had kissed away the sweat and the tears from her face and smiled back at her, interlacing his fingers with hers, whispering back to that he loved her all the more than she loved him. She had giggled in the moonlight, the sound music to his ears. His grin had widened, knowing that he was capable of making her smile, not just making her hurt. She had shook her head fervently, swearing that she loved him more than he loved her.

Warmth filled Seifer as he stepped through the open elevator doors and pushed the button that would carry him to the Headmaster's floor. He had no doubt that when she awoke, her mind and heart would be filled with him and she would wait in the dorm for him to return to her, and toss aside her engagement ring, leaving her finger free for a ring from him. His stomach lurched slightly as the elevator lifted, but he didn't care. He was madly in love with her. And he knew that despite Zephyr, Tali, Neero, Seth, and anything else that might try to come between them, that they were made for one another, a blessed union of fire and ice that would create a perfect in between.

xxx

Quistis stirred in her sleep and stretched out beneath the sheets, the silk honey against her naked flesh. She smiled, and pulled the covers to cover herself, her lips still tingly from kissing Seifer. She rolled to her back, her hand reaching for him only to find… Her bed was empty? She lifted her head from the pillow to see that she was the only one cuddled beneath the sheets.

"Seifer?" She mumbled, his name spilling from her lips. She climbed to her feet, dropping the sheet to stumble into the bathroom and kitchen, searching for him. Her fingers dragged over the grainy wood of the dining room table, discouraged. He hadn't even left a note… She wrapped her arms around her middle, looking back at the mussed bed. She couldn't help but to smile as she remembered the never-fading memories of the night they had shared together. And as she recalled the moments they shared in the middle of the night that she had no worries. He would come back…

"QUISTIS!!" The scream was so sudden, so loud, that she nearly screamed herself. Her heart started and she ran back to the bedroom, to pull on shorts and a long t-shirt. "Wake up sleepyhead! It's time to start getting ready!" Selphie's voice was sing-songy and rose and fell in pitch. Quistis grimaced. Selphie may have been a talented young woman, but singing was definitely not one of those many talents. Then began the banging.

"Quisty? We know you're in there! You better let us in!" Rinoa squealed with glee, just as excited as Selphie. Quistis sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her reflection. Smeared makeup, messy hair and eyes suddenly full of desperation. She had nearly forgotten that today she was supposed to be getting married to Seth. She looked down at her hand, and found that despite the night's events, the engagement ring was still on her finger. The diamond glittered at her in the morning sun, but it no longer seemed bright and shiny, but dull and dead. What would she say to Selphie and Rinoa?

The banging grew louder and suddenly there was a loud thud. Rinoa's voice floated through the door, sounding slightly panicked. "Quistis, you better hurry and let us in. Selphie's worried about you and about getting you ready in enough time. You know she's been killing herself over preparing the wedding. Let us in?" Quistis sighed, running her fingers through her disaster hair. She had no clue what she was going to say to them but she couldn't hold it off any longer so she pressed her finger on the keypad and stepped back as the little tornado of energy named Selphie swept through the door, followed by a rather harassed looking Rinoa.

Both of their arms were full of wedding gowns, makeup and a million and one other things. Quistis sank into a table chair and watched with empty eyes as they began to set up around the room, preparing to prepare her for her wedding. The wedding that she was not going to be a part of. _Seifer, where are you? _She called out to him in her heart. _I don't know what to do, come back please! _She allowed herself to be dressed and pampered and washed. She didn't want to announce the fact that was going to be with Seifer by herself. It was about them, so she felt that they should do it together. But where was he?

The dress was slipped over her head and Quistis realized that they were nearly finished with the preparations. She clung tightly to the back of the chair as Selphie yanked the cords of the corseted bodice of the elegant wedding dress that Rinoa had designed herself. The bodice was corseted in the back, with lace and elegant silver stitching and the rest of the dress was puffy but sleek at the same time, with more of the same lacing and silver stitching. Quistis bowed her head, praying to Hyne that Seifer would come rescue her from this twisted torture soon.

Her crystal blue eyes filled with tears. What if he wasn't coming back? What if he came back last night and realized that she wasn't what he wanted? What if he had ran in fear again? Was Seifer commitment-phobic? But she quickly blinked away the tears and the fears. They had made promises in the night, between the sheets, from heart to heart, that their souls belonged together, whether it be in this life or next. Her eyes rested on the door, wishing that he would come in and sweep her up in his arms and take her away from everything and everyone else.

"And now for the final touch!" Selphie's sing-song voice shook her from her thoughts and she lifted her eyes curiously. They were done already? Her heart thudded against her chest harder and harder until she could barely breathe. Quistis watched wide-eyed and unable to protest as Selphie fished through her purse and pulled out a small silver bottle, decorated with a silver rhinestone heart and curly silver ribbon. "Here it is!"

"What… is it…?" Quistis murmured, her eyes following Selphie's hands as he uncorked the small bottle and emptied in into a glass. The liquid was clear but had a rainbow tint to it, much like a bottle of bubbles, and it glinted and shimmered in the sunlight.

Selphie laughed and shrugged. "Dunno. Early wedding gift, I suppose. I found it outside your dorm door this morning. It had this note attached to it." She pulled a thin slip of paper from her pocket, from which Quistis could barely make out the thin, spidery silver script. "Something about it being a love potion that will bring you a happy life with the one you love." Seifer's face crossed Quistis's mind and she didn't hesitate to drink the 'love potion' down. Any little bit could help, she thought, even though she wasn't quite the superstitious one that Selphie was. But she sputtered and choked on the potion; it was bitter and acrid, and burned her throat all the way down.

And then the two girls pulled her from her seat and dragged her out into the hallway and to the Quad, to bring her to her journey down the altar. Quistis found that she had no voice to cry to them and tell them no, and her stomach churned and lurched violently. What kind of love potion had it been?


	13. The Gift

_Chapter Twelve: The Gift_

The elevator ride to the third floor of Garden seemed to take an eternity. But Seifer wasn't complaining. A sickening knot had formed in his stomach, and for once he was scared to be once more face to face with his former rival. How would Squall take his return to Garden? And even more so, would Squall even believe him when he told him his foreboding news about Zephyr and Tali's plans? He could only hope so… He knew that this time, he and Quistis would not be able to fight the fight alone.

The elevator finally came to a stop and the gravity pull made Seifer sway but he kept his balance. He stepped through the doors, his eyes on the lush, red carpet beneath his feet. He stopped at the double mahogany doors, willing himself to make the final steps to the confrontation with Squall. How would he take it? Seifer now sullenly wished he had brought Hyperion, or at least some kind of weapon. He shook the thoughts from his head. Squall wouldn't attack him and there would be no way in Hyne that Seifer would even carry Hyperion ever again. He had no use for it anymore, not against his fellow SeeD, at least.

Just as Seifer reached heavily towards the door to push it open, it swung open and stunned him. Squall's stormy gray eyes found his poisonous green ones and for a moment, they stood there, each unmoving, neither unable to speak. Finally Squall smiled his little half-smile and he extended a hand. "Welcome home, Seifer." Seifer couldn't help but to laugh. He grinned from ear to ear as he took Squall's hand in his own and shook it heartily.

"We have some catching up to do, Seifer."

"Yes, sir, we do." Seifer mumbled, remembering the task at hand. Seifer and Squall entered the office and sat down. Within seconds, Seifer spilled everything he knew. The look on Squall's face was grave.

xxx

It had been easier than he had imagined entrusting Squall with all of his information. He had even confided in him his relationship with Quistis. The look of disappointment flashed across Squall's face when he learned of Quistis' nighttime betrayal to Seth, but that couldn't be helped now. Squall gave Seifer what advice he could, before sending him on his way. Squall had much more important business to do now, like prepare Garden for a possible attack.

He stopped at Quistis's dorm door and smiled. Finally, the moment he had been waiting for all day. He wanted to rush into the apartment, scoop her into his arms and kiss every inch of her skin and whisper how much he loved her into her ears. He had changed so much in the past year and he owed it all to her. She made him grow up and mature; to realize that there was more to life than defiance and arrogance; and she even taught him how to love again.

And their love for each other wasn't the childish and immature fling that he and Rinoa had shared in their summer together. No, it was real and pure. There wasn't just a physical attraction. He wasn't just attracted to her body or her pretty face. He fell in love with her for her. Everything thing she did, she said, he lusted for. He wanted every smile to be for him, every kiss to reach his lips, every "I love you" to be meant for his ears only. And finally it could be true.

He pushed the keypad and stepped hurriedly in the room, her name falling from his lips. But there were no ears to receive his words of love. Bewildered, his eyes roved over the assortment of makeup kits, hairbrushes, hairclips and pins, and other various things. And there was no Quistis. Panicked, he struggled to think. Then it hit him.

"No way… No, Quistis, please!" He yelled in frustration before taking off out of the apartment. Had she really gone back to Seth? What had happened in the short time he had been gone? Had she decided that she didn't really love Seifer as much as she said she did? Seifer's cheeks flushed with anger. Had she used him to get over her pre-wedding jitters?

Before Seifer could finish his thoughts, something struck him hard and flung him to the floor. He yelped in pain as his elbow connected with the cold tile and he skittered to his feet, immediately on the defensive. What he found dazed him. Zephyr stood over him, a maniacal grin plastered on his face. Then he dropped his weight into Seifer's stomach and the blonde man sputtered and choked, struggling to catch his breath.

Zephyr's hand clenched him tight around the throat, strangling him. The attacker's grin slipped to a sneer as his grip tightened and tightened. Seifer flailed but could not break free. "What's the matter, Seifer? Too weak? That's what made you such an easy puppet for Ultimecia to control." Fury flashed in Seifer's eyes but was quickly replaced by panic as his vision became spotty and blurred. "And now look. You're so weak, you can't even keep your girlfriend. The one you betrayed Tali and I for. You fool. You gave everything up for her and look where she left you." Seifer's eyes glazed and he could see nothing but blackness, but he was still conscious.

Zephyr leaned close to Seifer, his grip tighter than ever and whispered words of contempt into his ears. "I'm going to kill you, Seifer. And then I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill Quistis. And then I'm going to kill everyone in this damn Garden. And it will all be blamed on you. Once more you will be the pawn, the puppet, the villain…"

Seifer felt himself fading. _So this is what's it's like to die…_ His vision was already gone and his hearing was fading. He could barely hear the threats that Zephyr maliciously spat at him. And his body felt like it was drifting, he no longer felt the pain. And then her face crossed him mind. He would never be able to be with her again. He had more than just lost her to another man, he lost her in general. Would she go to his funeral? Would she cry for him?

"SEIFER!!" Squall's voice came loud and clear through his fogged mind and he struggled to cry out back. He found that when he opened his mouth, the sweet air filled his mouth, his throat, and his lungs and all at once he was back. The hallway came back to his vision and he found that he was on the floor on his back and that Squall had Zephyr now pinned on the floor. "Get on your feet, Seifer!" Squall commanded him and Seifer sprang to his feet like a cat. Squall tossed the Lionheart to Seifer, who caught it expertly.

"Go get Quistis! Hurry!" Squall pointed down the hall. Seifer nodded and shouted a quick thanks before hurrying down the hall. "I'll take care of this guy." Seifer heard the sickening sound of Squall's fist meeting the side of Zephyr's jaw. His feet thudded against the floor, Lionheart held tight in his fist. He could only hope that he wouldn't be too late to pull Quistis in his arms and call her his own forever.

xxx

The piano struck a note and Quistis brushed away the tear that slipped down her cheek as the pianist began to play "Here Comes the Bride." Her blue eyes filled with more tears that threatened to fall but she blinked them away futilely. She watched, her heart heavy, as Rinoa and Selphie began their march down the aisle. She could see that the groomsmen already stood at the altar. She warned herself not to but she couldn't help it. Her eyes fell on Seth.

Her breath caught in her throat as Seth's silver eyes found hers. She wanted to duck away and hide but she froze. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but to smile back. She had really grown to care about him, in the time they had spent together since Seifer had left. She didn't know if she would call it love. Sure, she loved him as a person and as a good friend, but as a husband? Seifer's face floated to her mind.

Then she realized it. All eyes were on her. They were all waiting for her to make her bride march down the aisle and to Seth's arms. She glanced down at her dress and she ran her gloved hands over the silver beadwork and stitching. It was so beautiful, almost perfect. If the dress had been for Seifer, would it have been perfect?

The thought of him brought fresh tears to her eyes. Where had he gone? Had he left her as soon as she had fallen asleep? Even after the moments they had shared in the dark? Chills ran down her spine. Had he returned only to find that she wasn't what he wanted? Did he only use her as a way to return to Garden? Her heart broke. Seifer didn't love her. That was the only conclusion she could come to. If he loved her, he wouldn't have left after Neero was defeated. He wouldn't have been gone for so long. He wouldn't have left her this morning. He would have stayed with her and protected her from the world.

She began her procession down the aisle, and away from Seifer. If he didn't love her, then she didn't love him. The red aisle seemed an eternity and she silently prayed that it would be shorter. She prayed that as soon as she came to stand before Seth that the ceremony would be speedy and fast and she could just get this day over with. She wanted her life to be over as quickly as possible.

A tear slipped from her cheek and Seth brushed it away tenderly.

"Tell me that these are tears of joy…" He whispered.

She smiled up at him, sadly. "I can't lie to you, but I can love you." He nodded and took her hands in his. He brought them to his lips and kissed each knuckle tenderly.

"I love you."

"I love you too." The words seemed a lie and despite her fury towards Seifer, she felt that she was betraying him. But how was she betraying Seifer, when she was promised to Seth? The thoughts swirled and spun in her mind like a whirlwind and sucked the air from her lungs. She struggled to breathe. Was she panicking? Her stomach lurched violently once more and she lost her balance. As she fell, she saw Seth's face contort to one of shock and horror. She hit the ground, her wedding dress softening her fall. The world faded from her view and pain shot through her body.

Maybe her life was ending sooner than she had thought…

xxx

Zephyr panted and wiped the blood from his lips, which were still contorted into a sneer. Squall too as panting and was struggling to maintain his balance. He didn't understand how Zell managed to do it, using his body as his weapon. Squall glanced down at his bruised and bloody knuckles. Was this guy super-human? Laughter shook Squall from his thoughts and his stormy eyes looked up questioningly.

Zephyr straightened and laughed, his laugh deep and bellowing and he had tears of laughter in his eyes. "What's so damn funny?" Squall snapped, furious. He had known Zephyr to be a little on the rebellious side, but he never knew that Zephyr would be so weak and foolish to let what happened happen to him. Squall's eyes caught the thin silver chain around Zephyr's neck and he had a sudden rush. He was never one for bloodlust, but Squall suddenly wanted to see Zephyr in a puddle of his own blood. What Seifer had told him about Zephyr was true!

Zephyr finally stopped laughing and pulled a small crystal bottle from his pocket. He shook it slightly and Squall caught sight of a small silver snake charm that was on the side of the bottle. He also noticed that only a few drops remained in the bottle. "Isn't it amazing?" Zephyr sneered, tossing the bottle in the air and catching it again, tossing it and catching it. "Dear, dear Instructor taught me how to kill her. I remember that lesson very well. I think this darling potion is called… 'Anacondaur's Poison'?" He began his laughter once more as Squall took off down the hall in the same direction that Seifer had.

Quistis was dying. Did Seifer know?

xxx

He didn't care. He didn't care that he shoved people out of the way, he didn't care that he knocked over piles of presents and tables of food. He only knew that he had to get to her and get to her fast. The sound of the piano music that was meant to carry the bride down the aisle reached his ears and he further increased his speed. And then he stopped, at the end of the aisle. All the commotion he had caused had brought all eyes to him and the Quad filled with everyone muttering and whispering to each other. But he didn't hear them. He only heard her voice in his head and he only saw her.

But he didn't see her how he wanted to see her. He saw her standing in front of Seth, his hand brushing against her cheek. He saw her form the words "I love you," and he saw how Seth kissed her hands. She didn't pull away. Did she not love him? She couldn't love him, not now, not ever. Seifer heard his heart pounding in his ears and his heart shattered in that instance. But then it happened. She fell.

Time stood still as Seifer ran down the same aisle that just moments ago she had made her bride march upon. He no longer thought of whether or not she loved him. He didn't care, not now. He only cared for her safety. If it was safer for her to be with Seth, so be it. But was she safe now? Was she ill? He fell to her knees beside her and pulled her into his lap. His vision blurred and he panicked, afraid that Zephyr was doing something to him again, but he found that this time it was tears that obscured his vision.

His hands held her face and he leaned close to her, whispering to her. "C'mon, Quisty, c'mon… Please wake up! Tell me if you can hear me! Please… Be okay…" Seth staggered back in shock. Quistis had never confided in him what had happened between her and Seifer, but it seemed to him that it was Seifer that kept her back from loving her as much as she said she could. Seth bowed his head and stepped back away. This was Seifer's moment with her, not his.

Squall appeared, and once more yelled to Seifer. "Seifer, here! Catch!" Seifer had hardly turned before the small object that Squall had thrown to him flew through the air. His cat-like reflexes once more came in handy as it landed neatly in his palm. His eyes stared curiously at the small bottle. It showed a silver snake with a sword through its head. The bottle was familiar but from where…? Then he realized what it was. He bit into the cork at the top of the bottle and ripped it out from the bottle. His fingers gently opened Quistis' mouth and he let the Anacondaur's Gift slide over her soft pink lips.

His poisonous green eyes stared at her graying face, praying, hoping, dreaming for anything. But her chest did not rise with air, her eyes did not open. It was too late…

But he was not going to give it up. He poured the rest of the Gift into his mouth and pressed his lips against her, pulling her limp body close to his own, praying that his Gift to her would bring her back. Tears fell from his eyes and splashed against her cheeks and eyes, running her mascara. But she still did not stir.

Zephry stood at the end of the aisle, grinning. The sun shined brilliantly against the chain around his neck and Griever's ring hung against his chest. He began to laugh, and soon his voice disappeared and Neero's voice replaced it.


	14. Bathwater

Epilogue: Bathwater

I've known Seifer pretty much my whole life. We grew up at the orphanage together, clashing every second. Life at Balamb Garden wasn't much different. He and I were opposites, fire and ice. I was left alone and bitter, unable to find love, other than the pitiful love I felt for Squall, while Seifer chased skirts and kissed pleading lips.

_You and your museum of lovers_

_The precious collection you've housed in your covers_

I was naïve to what love truly was. I had never even been kissed before. But here I was, always optimistic, always hopeful, always dreaming. I was dreaming when I thought that I could change Seifer by being nice to him. I cut back on all my beliefs, tore down the walls that I had built for years, and I had kissed him on the beach. I shouldn't have. I didn't mean to. I was just thirsty for love, for affection, for something other than the bitterness and anger he always tried to feed me. And then somewhere along the way, I fell in love.

_My simpleness threatened by my own admission_

And I thought I could handle it. I've seen the movies, read the novels… Love was supposed to be easy if you played your cards right. I understood jealousy, I understood compromise, I understood all the factors that could make or break any relationship. I thought I could handle it. I was wrong.

_And the bags are much too heavy_

_In my insecure condition_

He left me. I had needed him all along. He had become a crutch for all the things I could not be. I no longer knew how to be strong on my own. I no longer knew how to be icy and cold towards others. I no longer knew how to bite back the tears. He left me just when I loved him and needed him the most. And I was left to watch Rinoa in Squall's arms. She had done nothing, she hadn't fought for love like I had. So why did she deserve it? She didn't, not like I did.

_My pregnant mind is fat full with envy again_

Even though he abandoned me when I needed him the most, I couldn't fall out of love with him. Not a day passed where I went without thinking of him, dreaming of him, whispering his name. I always loved him. I always will. But Seth was there for me. I had been so starved for affection that I let Seth in, to replace the man that I truly needed. I tried to make myself hate Seifer for everything: for treating me so horribly, for making me love him, for abandoning me. But nothing could ever make me hate him.

_But I still love to wash in your old bathwater_

_Love to think that you couldn't love another_

It was truly his faults that I loved about him. I loved that he was arrogant, that he was cocky, that he rushed forward without thinking first. I loved his spirit, his energy, his fire. I loved that he was so confident when it came to women and war. Even though he had abandoned me, he still seemed perfect for me.

_I can't help it… You're my kind of man_

_I know I'm diving into my destruction_

But what I didn't understand was why he loved me. What did he see in me? He could have any woman in the world, and he came back to Garden, came to my room in the night to be with me. I was so different than all the other women he tangled with. I wasn't outgoing, I wasn't confident, I wasn't flashy or sexy. And yet he came to be with me, knowing that I was to be married the next day. He was risking everything to come back to be with me. Why?

_I don't fit in so why do you want me?_

_And I know I can't tame you… but I just keep trying._

And then there I was, at the altar with Seth. A mix-up, a morning shake-up and I was whisked away from Seifer. I didn't know where he was, I felt abandoned again. Why was love so hard? I had always thought that I could handle it. It was so easy, jealousy, compromise… What fell apart? I stood before Seth, my eyes on his, not seeing him, but seeing the man I had truly promised my heart to. But it was too late. Love wasn't easy like in movies. It wasn't easy at all. I was done with love. I hated it. I thought for a minute that I could truly hate Seifer too.

And then everything was gone.

xxx

"Quistis… I love you…"

"Seifer… I love you too..."

'_Cause I still love to wash in your old bathwater_

_Love to think that you couldn't love another_

_But I still love to wash in your old bathwater_

_You make me feel like I couldn't love another_

_I can't help it… You're my kind of man_

_No I can't help it_

_I can't help myself_

_I still love to wash in your old_

_Bathwater._

A/n: Sequel, maybe? ;)


End file.
